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Q: Sweet Mother,
Sri Aurobindo has said somewhere that if we
surrender to the Divine Grace, it will do everything for us.
Then what is the value of tapasya?

A: If you want to know what Sri Aurobindo has said on a given
subject, you must at least read all he has written on that
subject. You will then see that he seems to have said the most
contradictory things. But when one has read everything and
understood a little, one sees that all the contradictions complement
one another and are organised and unified in an integral synthesis.
Here is another quotation by Sri Aurobindo which will
show you that your question is an ignorant one. There are many
others which you could read to advantage and which will make
your intelligence more supple:
If there is not a complete surrender, then it is not possible
to adopt the baby cat attitude,it becomes mere tamasic passivity
calling itself surrender. If a complete surrender is not possible in
the beginning, it follows that personal effort is necessary.
16 December 1964 (CWM 16: 309-310)





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Compilers Note
I am extremely thankful to Sri Aurobindo for having written down
clearly all that he wanted to convey to humanity and not left it for
someone else to interpret. Reading all that he has written on a sub-
ject is like Sri Aurobindo personally guiding us on how to proceed
on the path. The transcription of the Mothers talks in her life time
has further helped us to clarify many aspects of sadhana. I bow be-
fore the Mother and Sri Aurobindo with gratitude for leaving their
works for humanity to guide us at every step.
In one of my initial meetings with Vijaybhai, he had suggested that
someone should do the compilation of all that Sri Aurobindo and
the Mother have written on various subjects. I am thereIore
thankful to Vijaybhai for the encouragement to do a comprehensive
compilation.
This compilation is offered at the feet of the Mother and
Sri Aurobindo.
I am Thankful to Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust for allowing the use
of all the quotations of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother and Usha
Patels painting as the cover, the copyright of which is with the
Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust.
!"
I would also like to thank Mr. M. S. Srinivasan of Sri Aurobindo
Society, Adaviji, my wife Khursheed, Hosie, Whabeez and Pranati
in helping me to arrange the compilation in a logical manner.
I am also thankful to Archana Udaykumar for proof reading all the
quotations, Vivechana Saraf for doing the cover, Shonar Joshi and
Shiv"#umar for helping in making an e-book.
Compiler Jamshed M Mavalwalla
"
PREFACE
Once, the Mother was asked What is the secret of success in
sadhana? to which she replied in one word Surrender. (CWM
14: 108) In another talk the Mother says that surrender is the first
attitude indispensable for beginning the Yoga. If one has not
decided to make a total surrender, then one cannot even begin
practicing Integral yoga.
Thus if one wants to pursue Integral Yoga then there is a need to
know and understand all that has been written on Surrender by Sri
Aurobindo and the Mother, thereby bringing mental clarity. The
Mother does encourage studying Sri Aurobindo subject wise. She
also encourages us to read all that Sri Aurobindo has written on the
subject.
given subject, you must at least read all he has written on
that subject. (CWM 16: 309-310)
Mental clarity about Surrender can channel our efforts in the right
direction.
Yogic experience shows that surrender can also be made
by the mind and will, a clear and sincere mind seeing the
necessity of surrender and a clear and sincere will
enforcing it on the recalcitrant {disobedient} members.
One starts by an intense idea and will to know or reach the
It is not by books that Sri Aurobindo ought to be studied
but by subjects what he has said on the Divine, on
Unity, on religion, on evolution, on education, on self-
perfection, on supermind, etc., etc. (CWM 12: 206)
If you want to know what Sri Aurobindo has said on a
"!
Divine and surrenders more and more one's ordinary perso-
nal ideas, desires, attachments, urges to action or habits of
action so that the Divine may take up everything.
(CWSA 28: 385)
In order to facilitate clear understanding, the following methods ha-
ve been utilised. The quotations have been classified into captioned
sections. There are 20 sections written in Roman numerals (I, II,
III, IV, V, etc). Under each section there are different sub sections
written as 1, 2, & 3, Ior example I 1. I - 2. In case there are more
quotations in each sub section then it is subdivided as IV 4. a. and
IV 4. b.
As this compilation is from various sources, there is some overlap-
ping as well as repetition in its content. In the same section at times
a quotation is a repetition of an earlier quotation but has some new
aspect.
The quotations in this compilation are taken from the volumes of
CWSA (The Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo), SABCL (Sri Au-
robindo Birth Centenary Library) and from (CWM) The Collected
Works of The Mother. Each quotation is followed by the book, the
volume number and page number from where it has been taken.
This compilation is for the seekers who wish to understand and
practice Surrender of the Integral Yoga. It is also an effort to bring
together in one volume all that has been written by Sri Aurobindo
and the Mother on Surrender. Sri Aurobindos and the Mothers
quotations complement each other. There is an effort to make this
compilation as comprehensive as possible, covering different
aspects on the given subject.
"!!
Jamshed M. Mavalwalla
The section headings, and sub headings are given by the compiler
to bring mental clarity on the selected subject. Sri Aurobindos and
the Mothers words are instilled with a consciousness infinitely hi-
gher than our own which can serve to elevate the consciousness of
the reader, thereby inducing the aspiration to surrender to the Mo-
ther. It is hoped that the compilation will thus be helpful not only
to understand but also to practice Surrender.
As the aim of this compilation is to bring together all the quotations
that Sri Aurobindo and the Mother have written on Surrender, the
reader may find the matter too long. Thus one shall require patien-
ce to go through it, or a keen desire to know what the Masters have
written on the subject. In the section How to Surrender, the rea-
der will find thirty nine methods suggested but one can select those
which suits ones nature.
The present compilation on Surrender in the Integral Yoga is con-
ceived to be the first of a series of three e-books. While mentioning
about the importance of personal effort in Integral Yoga, Sri Auro-
bindo says that the personal effort required is a triple labour of aspira-
tion, rejection and surrender. We hope to follow up this book with
compilations on Aspiration and Rejection in the Integral Yoga.
!

Contents of Quotations
I What is Surrender in Yoga.
II Wrong ideas about Surrender what is not surrender in
Yoga.
III The importance of Surrender to the Divine in the
Integral Yoga. (Sri Aurobindos Yoga)
IV Why is there a need to Surrender to the Divine Shakti in
the Integral Yoga.
V (A) In the initial stage the personal effort is necessary to
surrender to the Divine.
V (B) Personal Effort is better than Tamasic inertia.
VI How to Surrender The effort needed in the initial
stage.
VII Difficulties of Surrender and how to overcome them in
Yoga.
VIII The Process of Surrender in the Integral Yoga.
IX The Attitude of Surrender
X Surrender and Grace
"

XI Surrender can bring following results in Yoga.

XII How can one know whether the surrender is total or
not?

XIII Surrender and Offering, Sacrifice, Consecration.

XIII (A) Surrender and Offering

XIII (B) Surrender and Sacrifice

XIII (C) Surrender and Consecration

XIV Surrender of the Vital in Yoga.

XV Other Important quotations on Surrender

XVI Surrender (A Sonnet by Sri Aurobindo)

XVII Radhas Prayer

XVIII From the Mothers Prayers and Meditations on
Surrender

XIX Absolute and unreserved self surrender of the Mother

XX In Integral Yoga we surrender to the Divine Mother.


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I What is Surrender in Yoga.

I - 1. 'Surrender is giving oneselI to the Divine to give
everything one is or has to the Divine and regard nothing as one`s
own, to obey only the Divine will and no other, to live Ior the
Divine and not Ior the ego. (SABCL 23: 585) (CWSA 29: 67)

I - 2. 'Surrender means to consecrate everything in oneselI to the
Divine, to oIIer all one is and has, not to insist on one's ideas,
desires, habits, etc., but to allow the divine Truth to replace them
by its knowledge, will and action everywhere. (SABCL 23: 603)
(CWSA 29: 67)

I 3. 'Surrender is the decision taken to hand over the
responsibility oI your liIe to the Divine. Without this decision
nothing is at all possible; iI you do not surrender, the Yoga is
entirely out oI the question. Everything else comes naturally aIter
it, Ior the whole process starts with surrender. Question and
Answers 1930-1931(CWM 3: 126)

I 4. 'By surrender we mean . a spontaneous selI-giving, a
giving oI all your selI to the Divine, to a greater Consciousness oI
which you are a part. . Surrender means a Iree total giving with
all the delight oI the giving; there is no sense oI sacriIice in it. II
you have the slightest Ieeling that you are making a sacriIice, then
it is no longer surrender. For it means that you reserve yourselI or
that you are trying to give, with grudging or with pain and eIIort,
and have not the joy oI the giIt, perhaps not even the Ieeling that
you are giving. 4 August 1929 (CWM 3: 114-115)

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I 5. 'Resignation is the basis oI a kind oI religious equality,
submission to the divine will, a patient bearing oI the cross, a
submissive Iorbearance. In the Gita this element takes the more
ample Iorm oI an entire surrender oI the whole being to God. It is
not merely a passive submission, but an active selI-giving; not only
a seeing and an accepting oI the divine Will in all things, but a
giving up oI one`s own will to be the instrument oI the Master oI
works, and this not with the lesser idea oI being a servant oI God,
but, eventually at least, oI such a complete renunciation both oI the
consciousness and the works to him that our being becomes one
with his being and the impersonalised nature only an instrument
and nothing else. (SABCL 13: 199-200) (CWSA 19: 208-209)

I 6. 'Surrender means that, to give up our little mind and its
mental ideas and preIerences into a divine Light and a greater
Knowledge, our petty personal troubled blind stumbling will into a
great, calm, tranquil, luminous Will and Force, our little, restless,
tormented Ieelings into a wide intense divine Love and Ananda,
our small suIIering personality into the one Person oI which it is an
obscure outcome. (SABCL 22: 193) (CWSA 28: 385)

I 7. 'There is only one way Ior you. It is a total, complete and
unconditional surrender. What I mean by that is the giving up not
only oI your actions, work, ambitions, but also oI all your Ieelings,
in the sense that all that you do, all that you are, is exclusively Ior
the Divine. 11 May 1967 (CWM 15: 398)


I What is Surrender in Yoga
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I What is Surrender in Yoga
I 8. 'Surrender, on the other hand, may be deIined as the giving
up oI the limits oI your ego. To surrender to the Divine is to
renounce your narrow limits and let yourselI be invaded by it and
made a centre Ior its play. (CWM 3: 168) (CWM 14: 107)

I 9. 'Surrender: to will what the Divine wills is the supreme
wisdom. Divine Will the will expressing the highest Truth.
(CWM 14: 109)

I 10. 'For here, there are two movements with a transitional stage
between them, two periods oI this Yoga,one oI the process oI
surrender, the other oI its crown and consequence. In the Iirst the
individual prepares himselI Ior the reception oI the Divine into his
members. For all this Iirst period he has to work by means oI the
instruments oI the lower Nature, but aided more and more Irom
above. . the eternal Shakti descends into this limited Iorm oI
mortality and progressively possesses and transmutes it. (SABCL
20: 79) (CWSA 23: 86)

I 11. 'It is not my intention to say that this way is the only way
and sadhana cannot be done otherwisethere are so many others
by which one can approach the Divine. But this is the only one I
know by which the taking up oI sadhana by the Divine becomes a
sensible Iact beIore the preparation oI the nature is done. In other
methods the Divine action may be Ielt Irom time to time, but it
remains mostly behind the veil till all is ready. In some sadhanas
the divine action is not recognised: all must be done by tapasya. In
most there is a mixing oI the two: the tapasya Iinally calling the
direct help and intervention. The idea and experience oI the Divine

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doing all belong to the yoga based on surrender. (SABCL 23:
588) (CWSA 29: 71)

I 12. 'What I mean by surrender is this inner surrender oI the
mind and vital. There is, oI course, the outer surrender also: the
giving up oI all that is Iound to conIlict with the spirit or need oI
the sadhana, the oIIering, the obedience to the guidance oI the
Divine, whether directly, iI one has reached that stage, or through
the psychic or to the guidance oI the Guru. (SABCL 23: 587)
(CWSA 29: 70)

I 13. 'SelI-surrender is to give up yourselI and all that is yours,
mind and everything else to the Divine, so that the Divine Force
may take everything and change it. (CWSA 29: 67)

I 14. 'It |true surrender| begins when there is the true selI-
oIIering. (CWSA 29: 68)













I What is Surrender in Yoga

'

II Wrong ideas about Surrender what is not surrender in
Yoga

II 1. 'There are many wrong ideas current about surrender. Most
people seem to look upon surrender as an abdication oI the
personality; but that is a grievous error. For the individual is meant
to maniIest one aspect oI the Divine Consciousness, and the
expression oI its characteristic nature is what creates his
personality; then, by taking the right attitude towards the Divine,
this personality is puriIied oI all the inIluences oI the lower nature
which diminish and distort it and it becomes more strongly
personal, more itselI, more complete. The truth and power oI the
personality come out with a more resplendent distinctness, its
character is more precisely marked than it could possibly be when
mixed with all the obscurity and ignorance, all the dirt and alloy oI
the lower nature. It undergoes a heightening and gloriIication, an
aggrandisement oI capacity, a realization oI the maximum oI its
possibilities. 4 August 1929 (CWM 3: 116)

II 2. 'II you have the slightest Ieeling that you are making a
sacriIice, then it is no longer surrender. For it means that you
reserve yourselI or that you are trying to give, with grudging or
with pain and eIIort, and have not the joy oI the giIt, perhaps not
even the Ieeling that you are giving. When you do anything with
the sense oI a compression oI your being, be sure that you are
doing it in the wrong way. 4 August 1929 (CWM 3: 114-115)

II 3. 'Tamasic surrender is when one says, 'I won`t do anything;
let Mother do everything. Aspiration, rejection, surrender even are
not necessary. Let her do all that in me. There is a great diIIerence
(

between the two attitudes. One is that oI a shirker who won`t do
anything, the other is that oI the Sadhak who does his best, but
when he is reduced to quiescence Ior a time and things are adverse,
keep always his trust in the Mother`s Iorce and presence behind all
and by that trust baIIles the opposition Iorce and calls back the
activity oI the sadhana. (SABCL 25: 135) (CWSA 32: 140)

II 4. a. 'Active surrender is when you associate your will with
the Divine Will, reject what is not the Divine, assent to what is the
Divine. Passive surrender is when everything is leIt entirely to the
Divinethat Iew can really do, because in practice it turns out that
you surrender to the lower nature under pretext oI surrendering to
the Divine. (SABCL 23: 591) (CWSA 29: 79)

II 4. b. 'An inert passivity is constantly conIused with the real
surrender, but out oI an inert passivity nothing true and powerIul
can come. It is the inert passivity oI the physical Nature that leaves
it at the mercy oI every obscure or undivine inIluence. A glad and
strong and helpIul submission is demanded to the working oI the
Divine Force, the obedience oI the illumined disciple oI the Truth,
oI the inner Warrior who Iights against obscurity and Ialsehood, oI
the IaithIul servant oI the Divine. (SABCL 25: 4-5) (CWSA 32:
5)

II 5. 'To all those who suIIer, it is the same thing that has to be
said: all suIIering is the sign that the surrender is not total. Then,
when you Ieel in you a 'bang, like that, instead oI saying, 'Oh,
this is bad or 'This circumstance is diIIicult, you say, 'My
surrender is not perIect. Then it`s all right. And then you Ieel the
Grace that helps you and leads you, and you go on. And one day
II Wrong ideas about Surrender what is not surrender in Yoga
)

you emerge into that peace that nothing can trouble. You answer to
all the contrary Iorces, the contrary movements, the attacks, the
misunderstandings, the bad wills, with the same smile that comes
Irom Iull conIidence in the Divine Grace. And that is the only way
out, there is no other. 11 May 1967 (CWM 15: 398-399)

II 6. 'The kind oI outward obedience you lay stress on, asking
Ior a direction in every detail, is not the essence oI surrender,
although obedience is the natural Iruit and outward body oI
surrender. (SABCL 25: 273) (CWSA 32: 346-347)

II 7. a. 'A surrender by any means is good, but obviously the
Impersonal is not enough, Ior surrender to that may be limited in
result to the inner experience without any transIormation oI the
outer nature. (SABCL 23: 613) (CWSA 29: 79) (CWSA 32: 87)

II 7. b. 'Yes |surrender to the Iormless Divine would leave parts
oI the being subject to the gunas and ego|because only the static
parts would be Iree in Iormlessness, the active nature would be still
in the play oI the gunas. Many think they are Iree Irom ego
because they get the sense oI the Iormless Existence, they do not
see that the egoistic element remains in their action just as beIore.
(SABCL 23: 613) (CWSA 29: 194)

II - 8. 'To believe that one is being constantly guided by the
Divine in the heart is not necessarily surrender. It is necessary to
be detached, to see what are the divine Iorces and undivine and to
reject the undivine Iorces. It is only by this discrimination that one
can make a true surrender to the Divine in the heart. (CWSA 29:
68)
II Wrong ideas about Surrender what is not surrender in Yoga
!*

III The importance of Surrender to the Divine in the
Integral Yoga (Sri Aurobindos Yoga)

III 1. 'So here`s my proposal: we put surrender Iirst, at the top oI
the list, that is, we accept what Sri Aurobindo has saidthat to do
the integral yoga one must Iirst resolve to surrender entirely to the
Divine, there is no other way, this is the way. But aIter that one
must have the Iive psychological virtues, Iive psychological
perIections, and we say that these perIections are: Sincerity or
Transparency,
Faith or Trust (Trust in the Divine, naturally),
Devotion or Gratitude,
Courage or Aspiration,
Endurance or Perseverance. 25 January 1956 (CWM 8: 42)

III - 2. 'The Iirst process oI the yoga is to make the sankalpa oI
atmasamarpana. Put yourselI with all your heart and all your
strength into God`s hands. Make no conditions; ask Ior nothing,
not even Ior siddhi in the yoga, Ior nothing at all except that in you
and through you his will may be directly perIormed. To those who
demand Irom him, God gives what they demand, but to those who
give themselves and demand nothing, he gives everything that they
might otherwise have asked or needed and in addition he gives
himselI and the spontaneous boons oI his love. (SABCL 16: 414)
(CWSA 13: 74)

III 3. But Sri Aurobindo has said . that surrender is the Iirst and
absolute condition Ior doing the yoga. So, iI we Iollow what he has
said, this is not just one oI the necessary qualities: it is the Iirst

!!

attitude indispensable Ior beginning the yoga. II one has not
decided to make a total surrender, one cannot begin.
But Ior this surrender to be total, all these qualities are
necessary. |Sincerity or Transparency; Faith or Trust (Trust in the
Divine, naturally); Devotion or Gratitude; Courage or Aspiration;
Endurance or Perseverance.| 25 January 1956 (CWM 8: 41)

III 4. a. 'This is the reason why in this Yoga we insist so much
on what we call samarpana rather inadequately rendered by the
English word Surrender. (SABCL 24: 1169) (CWSA 32:214)

III 4. b. The Iirst conditions oI this Yoga are:
(1) A complete sincerity and surrender in the being. The divine liIe
and the transIormation oI the lower human into the higher divine
nature must be made the sole aim oI all the liIe. (CWSA 29: 43)

III 5. 'SelI-giving or surrender is demanded oI those who
practise this Yoga, because without such a progressive surrender oI
the being it is quite impossible to get anywhere near the goal.
(SABCL 25: 131) (CWSA 32: 140)

III 6. 'Everybody must be made to understand clearly that this is
not a sadhana oI emotional and egoistic bhakti, but oI surrender.
One who makes demands and threatens to commit suicide iI his
demands are not complied with, is not meant Ior this Yoga. . . .
This Yoga is not a Yoga oI emotional egoistic vital bhakti
Iull oI demands and desires. There is no room in it Ior abdar oI any
kind. It is only Ior those who surrender to the Divine and obey
implicitly the directions given to them by Sri Aurobindo and the
Mother. (CWSA 29: 467)
III The importance of Surrender to the Divine in the Integral Yoga (Sri Aurobindos Yoga)

!"

IV Why is there a need to Surrender to the Divine Shakti in
the Integral Yoga.

One oI the aims oI Yoga is to transIorm the lower nature and
elevate it to the higher nature or divine nature. The liIe oI human in
lower nature is centered around an ego.}

IV 1. 'The ego person in us cannot transIorm itselI by its own
Iorce or will or knowledge or by any virtue oI its own into the
nature oI the Divine; all it |ego| can do is to Iit itselI Ior the
transIormation and make more and more its surrender to that which
it seeks to become. As long as the ego is at work in us, our
personal action is and must always be in its nature a part oI the
lower grades oI existence; it is obscure or halI-enlightened, limited
in its Iield, very partially eIIective in its power. II a spiritual
transIormation, not a mere illumining modiIication oI our nature, is
to be done at all, we must call in the Divine Shakti to eIIect that
miraculous work in the individual; Ior she alone has the needed
Iorce, decisive, all-wise and illimitable. But the entire substitution
oI the divine Ior the human personal action is not at once entirely
possible. (SABCL 20: 80) (CWSA 23: 86)

IV 2. 'II we would realise a higher Iormation or status oI being,
then it is still through her, through the Divine Shakti, the
Consciousness-Force oI the Spirit that it has to be done; our
surrender must be to the Divine Being through the Divine Mother:
Ior it is towards or into the supreme Nature that our ascension has
to take place and it can only be done by the supramental Shakti
taking up our mentality and transIorming it into her
supramentality. (SABCL 18: 356-357) (CWSA 21: 371-372)

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IV 3. a. 'Man cannot by his own eIIort make himselI more than
man; the mental being cannot by his own unaided Iorce change
himselI into a supramental spirit. A descent oI the Divine Nature
can alone divinise the human receptacle.
For the powers oI our mind, liIe and body are bound to
their own limitations and, however high they may rise or however
widely expand, they cannot rise above their natural ultimate limits
or expand beyond them. But, still, mental man can open to what is
beyond him and call down a supramental Light, Truth and Power
to work in him and do what the mind cannot do. II mind cannot by
eIIort become what is beyond mind, supermind can descend and
transIorm mind into its own substance. (CWSA 12: 170) (SABCL
17: 71-72)

IV 3. b. 'It is no doubt impossible Ior the human nature being
mental in its basis to overcome the Ignorance and rise to or obtain
the descent oI the Supermind by its own unaided eIIort, but by
surrender to the Divine it can be done. (CWSA 28: 292)

IV 4. a. 'II there is no surrender, there can be no transIormation
oI the whole being. (SABCL 23: 586) (CWSA 29: 79)

IV - 4. b. 'For a real transIormation there must be a direct and
unveiled intervention Irom above; there would be necessary too a
total submission and surrender oI the lower consciousness, a
cessation oI its insistence, a will in it Ior its separate law oI action
to be completely annulled by transIormation and lose all rights
over our being. (SABCL 19: 922) (CWSA 22: 956)

IV Why is there a need to Surrender to the Divine Shakti in the Integral Yoga

!$

IV 5. 'These are the conditions oI the Light and Truth, the sole
conditions under which the highest Force will descend; . There
must be a total and sincere surrender; there must be an exclusive
selI-opening to the divine Power; there must be a constant and
integral choice oI the Truth that is descending, a constant and
integral rejection oI the Ialsehood oI the mental, vital and physical
Powers and Appearances that still rule the earth-nature. (SABCL
25: 1-2) (CWSA 32: 3)

IV 6. a. The path oI surrender is saIe and sure, there is no more
danger or serious diIIiculty.}
'There are two paths oI Yoga, one oI tapasya (discipline), and the
other oI surrender. The path oI tapasya is arduous. Here you rely
solely upon yourselI, you proceed by your own strength. You
ascend and achieve according to the measure oI your Iorce. There
is always the danger oI Ialling down. And once you Iall, you lie
broken in the abyss and there is hardly a remedy. The other path,
the path oI surrender, is saIe and sure. . In other words, you may
Iollow, as Ramakrishna says, either the path oI the baby monkey or
that oI the baby cat. The baby monkey holds to its mother in order
to be carried about and it must hold Iirm, otherwise iI it loses its
grip, it Ialls. On the other hand, the baby cat does not hold to its
mother, but is held by the mother and has no Iear nor
responsibility; it has nothing to do but to let the mother hold it and
cry ma ma.
II you take up this path oI surrender Iully and sincerely,
there is no more danger or serious diIIiculty. The question is to be
sincere. II you are not sincere, do not begin Yoga. 14 April 1929
(CWM 3: 4-5)

IV Why is there a need to Surrender to the Divine Shakti in the Integral Yoga

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IV - 6. b. 'The sunlit path can be Iollowed by those who are able to
practice surrender, Iirst a central surrender and aIterwards a more
complete selI-giving in all the parts oI the being. II they can
achieve and preserve the attitude oI the central surrender, iI they
can rely wholly on the Divine and accept cheerIully whatever
comes to them Irom the Divine, then their path becomes sunlit and
may even be straightIorward and easy. They will not escape all
diIIiculties, no seeker can, but they will able to meet them without
pain and despondency, ... (SABCL 24: 1621)

IV 7. The dangers in Yoga are avoided by the path oI
Surrender.}
IV - 7. a. 'This descent, this working is not without its possibility
oI calamitous Iall and danger. II the human mind or the vital desire
seizes hold on the descending Iorce and tries to use it according to
its own limited and erring ideas or Ilawed and egoistic impulses,
and this is inevitable in some degree until this lower mortal has
learned something oI the way oI that greater immortal nature,
stumblings and deviations, hard and seemingly insuperable
obstacles and wounds and suIIering cannot be escaped and even
death or utter downIall are not impossible. Only when the
conscious integral surrender to the Divine has been learned by
mind and liIe and body, can the way oI the Yoga become easy,
straight, swiIt and saIe. (SABCL 17: 72) (CWSA 12: 170)

IV - 7. b. 'In this process oI the descent Irom above and the
working it is most important not to rely entirely on oneselI, but to
rely on the guidance oI the Guru and to reIer all that happens to his
IV Why is there a need to Surrender to the Divine Shakti in the Integral Yoga

!&

judgment and arbitration and decision. For it oIten happens that the
Iorces oI the lower nature are stimulated and excited by the descent
and want to mix with it and turn it to their proIit. It oIten happens
too that some Power or Powers undivine in their nature present
themselves as the Supreme Lord or as the Divine Mother and claim
the being's service and surrender. II these things are accepted, there
will be an extremely disastrous consequence. II indeed there is the
assent oI the sadhak to the Divine working alone and the
submission or surrender to that guidance, then all can go
smoothly. (SABCL 24: 1169) (CWSA 32: 213)

IV - 7. c. 'But the ways oI nature are Iull oI snares, the disguises oI
the ego are innumerable, the illusions oI the Power oI Darkness,
Rakshasi Maya, are extraordinarily skilIul; the reason is an
insuIIicient guide and oIten turns traitor; vital desire is always with
us tempting to Iollow any alluring call. This is the reason why in
this yoga we insist so much on what we call samarpana rather
inadequately rendered by the English word surrender. (SABCL
24: 1169) (CWSA 32: 213-214)

IV 8. The dangers in Yoga are avoided by the path oI
Surrender.}
IV - 8. a. 'Even beIore the tranquillising puriIication oI the outer
nature has been eIIected or beIore it is suIIicient, one can still
break down the wall screening our inner being Irom our outer
awareness by a strong Iorce oI call and aspiration, a vehement will
or violent eIIort or an eIIective discipline or process; but this may
be a premature movement and is not without its serious dangers.
(SABCL 19: 905) (CWSA 22: 938)

IV Why is there a need to Surrender to the Divine Shakti in the Integral Yoga

!'

IV - 8. b. 'In entering within one may Iind oneselI amidst a chaos
oI unIamiliar and supernormal experiences to which one has not
the key or a press oI subliminal or cosmic Iorces, subconscient,
mental, vital, subtle-physical, which may unduly sway or
chaotically drive the being, encircle it in a cave oI darkness, or
keep it wandering in a wilderness oI glamour, allurement,
deception, or push it into an obscure battleIield Iull oI secret and
treacherous and misleading or open and violent oppositions; beings
and voices and inIluences may appear to the inner sense and vision
and hearing claiming to be the Divine Being or His messengers or
Powers and Godheads oI the Light or guides oI the path to
realisation, while in truth they are oI a very diIIerent character.
(SABCL 19: 905) (CWSA 22: 938-939)

IV - 8. c. 'II there is too much egoism in the nature oI the seeker or
a strong passion or an excessive ambition, vanity or other
dominating weakness, or an obscurity oI the mind or a vacillating
will or a weakness oI the liIe-Iorce or an unsteadiness in it or want
oI balance, he is likely to be seized on through these deIiciencies
and to be Irustrated or to deviate, misled Irom the true way oI the
inner liIe and seeking into Ialse paths, or to be leIt wandering
about in an intermediate chaos oI experiences and Iail to Iind his
way out into the true realisation. (SABCL 19: 905) (CWSA 22:
939)

IV - 8. d. 'These perils were well-known to a past spiritual
experience and have been met by imposing the necessity oI
initiation, oI discipline, oI methods oI puriIication and testing by
ordeal, oI an entire submission to the directions oI the path-Iinder
or path-leader, one who has realised the Truth and himselI
IV Why is there a need to Surrender to the Divine Shakti in the Integral Yoga

!(

possesses and is able to communicate the light, the experience, a
guide who is strong to take by the hand and carry over diIIicult
passages as well as to instruct and point out the way. But even so
the dangers will be there and can only be surmounted iI there is or
there grows up a complete sincerity, a will Ior purity, a readiness
Ior obedience to the Truth, Ior surrender to the Highest, a readiness
to lose or to subject to a divine yoke the limiting and selI-aIIirming
ego. (SABCL 19: 905-906) (CWSA 22: 939)






















IV Why is there a need to Surrender to the Divine Shakti in the Integral Yoga

!)

V (A) In the initial stage the personal effort is necessary to
surrender to the Divine.

V (A) - 1. 'In the early part oI the sadhanaand by early I do
not mean a short parteIIort is indispensable. Surrender oI course,
but surrender is not a thing that is done in a day. The mind has its
ideas and it clings to them; the human vital resists surrender, Ior
what it calls surrender in the early stages is a doubtIul kind oI selI-
giving with a demand in it; the physical consciousness is like a
stone and what it calls surrender is oIten no more than inertia. It is
only the psychic that knows how to surrender and the psychic is
usually very much veiled in the beginning. When the psychic
awakes, it can bring a sudden and true surrender oI the whole
being, Ior the diIIiculty oI the rest is rapidly dealt with and
disappears. But till then eIIort is indispensable. (SABCL 23: 588-
589) (CWSA 29: 83-84)

V (A) - 2. 'In proportion as the surrender and selI-consecration
progress the Sadhaka becomes conscious oI the Divine Shakti
doing the Sadhana, pouring into him more and more oI herselI,
Iounding in him the Ireedom and perIection oI the Divine Nature.
The more this conscious process replaces his own eIIort, the more
rapid and true becomes his progress. But it cannot completely
replace the necessity oI personal eIIort until the surrender and
consecration are pure and complete Irom top to bottom. (SABCL
25: 8) (CWSA 32: 7)

V (A) - 3. 'The absolute surrender must be not only an
experience in meditation, but a Iact governing all the liIe, all the
thoughts, Ieelings, actions. Till then the use oI one's own will and

"*

eIIort is necessary, but an eIIort in which also there is the spirit oI
surrender, calling in the Force to support the will and eIIort and
undisturbed by success or Iailure. When the Force takes up the
sadhana, then indeed eIIort may cease, but still there will be the
necessity oI the constant assent oI the being and a vigilance so that
one may not admit a Ialse Force at any point. (SABCL 23: 592)
(CWSA 29: 73-74)

V (A) - 4. 'It is not advisable in the early stages oI the sadhana to
leave everything to the Divine or expect everything Irom it without
the need oI one's own endeavour. That is only possible when the
psychic being is in Iront and inIluencing the whole action (and
even then vigilance and a constant assent are necessary), or else
later on in the ultimate stages oI the yoga when a direct or almost
direct supramental Iorce is taking up the consciousness; but this
stage is very Iar away as yet. Under other conditions this attitude is
likely to lead to stagnation and inertia. (SABCL 23: 590) (CWSA
29: 85)

V (A) - 5. 'Yes, oI course you are right. The process oI surrender
is itselI a Tapasya. Not only so, but in Iact a double process oI
Tapasya and increasing surrender persists Ior a long time even
when the surrender has Iairly well begun. But a time comes when
one Ieels the Presence and the Iorce constantly and more and more
Ieels that that is doing everythingso that the worst diIIiculties
cannot disturb this sense and personal eIIort is no longer necessary,
hardly even possible. That is the sign oI the Iull surrender oI the
nature into the hands oI the Divine. There are some who take this
position in Iaith even beIore there is this experience and iI the
Bhakti and the Iaith are strong it carries them through till the
V (A) In the initial stage the personal effort is necessary to surrender to the Divine

"!

experience is there. But all cannot take this position Irom the
beginningand Ior some it would be dangerous since they might
put themselves into the hand oI a wrong Force thinking it to be the
Divine. For most it is necessary to grow through Tapasya into
surrender. (SABCL 23: 595-596) (CWSA 29: 82)

V (A) - 6. 'For those who do not make any eIIort,that absence
oI eIIort is itselI a diIIicultythey do not progress. (SABCL 23:
593) (CWSA 29: 87)

V (A) - 7. 'You can get the Iull surrender only by degrees.
Meanwhile you have to go on the straight path not regarding the
suggestions that are put into you through the vital or physical
parts. (CWSA 29: 73)

V (A) - 8. 'It |the idea that the sadhana is done by the Divine
rather than by oneselI| is a truth but a truth that does not become
eIIective Ior the consciousness until or in proportion as it is
realised. The people who stagnate because oI it are those who
accept the idea but do not realise so they have neither the Iorce
oI tapasya nor that oI the Divine Grace. On the other hand those
who can realise it Ieel even behind their tapasya and in it the action
oI the Divine Force. (SABCL 23: 593) (CWSA 29: 81)

V (A) - 9. 'On the other hand, there are some people who start
with a genuine and dynamic will Ior a total surrender. It is those
who are governed by the psychic or are governed by a clear and
enlightened mental will which having once accepted surrender as
the law oI the sadhana will stand no nonsense about it and insists
on the other parts oI the being Iollowing its direction. Here there is
V (A) In the initial stage the personal effort is necessary to surrender to the Divine

""

still eIIort, but it is so ready and spontaneous and has so much the
sense oI a greater Force behind it that the sadhak hardly Ieels that
he is making an eIIort at all. In the contrary case oI a will in mind
or vital to retain selI-will, a reluctance to give up your independent
movement, there must be struggle and endeavour until the wall
between the instrument in Iront and the Divinity behind or above is
broken. No rule can be laid down which applies without distinction
to everybodythe variations in human nature are too great to be
covered by a single trenchant rule. (SABCL 23: 589) (CWSA 29:
84)

V (A) - 10. Yoga is an endeavour, a tapasyait can cease to be
so only when one surrenders sincerely to a higher Action and
keeps the surrender and makes it complete. It is not a Iantasia,
devoid oI all reason and coherence or a mere miracle. It has its
laws and conditions and I do not see how you can demand oI the
Divine to do everything by a violent miracle. (CWSA 29: 81)

V (A) - 11. 'When the will and energy are concentrated and used
to control the mind, vital and physical and change them or to bring
down the higher consciousness or Ior any other Yogic purpose or
high purpose, that is called Tapasya. (CWSA 29: 81)

V (A) - 12. 'Yes, iI there is the sense oI the Divine Will behind
all the Tapasya and receiving it and bestowing the Iruit it is at
least a Iirst Iorm oI surrender. (CWSA 29: 82)

V (A) 13. 'So long as there is not the Iull presence and
conscious working oI the higher Force, some amount oI personal
eIIort is indispensable. To do the sadhana Ior the sake oI the
V (A) In the initial stage the personal effort is necessary to surrender to the Divine

"#

Divine and not Ior one`s own sake is oI course the true attitude.
(CWSA 29: 86-87)

V (A) 14. 'Will, aspiration, surrender are things that you must
do yourselIalthough even in doing them you must call in the
Divine Power to help your will, aspiration and surrender and make
them eIIective. (CWSA 29: 59)























V (A) In the initial stage the personal effort is necessary to surrender to the Divine

"$

V (B) Personal Effort is better than Tamasic inertia

V (B) 1. 'It is not possible to get rid oI the stress on personal
eIIort at onceand not always desirable; Ior personal eIIort is
better than tamasic inertia.
The personal eIIort has to be transIormed progressively into
a movement oI the Divine Force. II you Ieel conscious oI the
Divine Force, then call it in more and more to govern your eIIort,
to take it up, to transIorm it into something not yours, but the
Mother`s. There will be a sort oI transIer, a taking up oI the Iorces
at work in the personal adhara transIer not suddenly complete
but progressive.
But the psychic poise is necessary: the discrimination must
develop which sees accurately what is the Divine Force, what is
the element oI personal eIIort, and what is brought in as a mixture
Irom the lower cosmic Iorces. And until the transIer is complete,
which always takes time, there must always be as a personal
contribution, a constant consent to the true Force, a constant
rejection oI any lower mixturethat is very important.
At present to give up personal eIIort is not what is wanted,
but to call in more and more the Divine Power and govern and
guide by it the personal endeavour. (CWSA 29: 84-85)

V (B) 2. 'II there is not a complete surrender, then it is not
possible to adopt the baby cat attitude, it becomes mere tamasic
passivity calling itselI surrender. II a complete surrender is not
possible in the beginning, it Iollows that personal eIIort is
necessary. (CWSA 29: 83)



"%

V (B) 3. 'Certainly one ought not to Iret |about whether one
will achieve one`s end|and certainly one ought to dedicate
|one`s desire to achieve it| to the Divine. But our experience is that
merely leaving the Divine to do everything (to IulIil) does not
carry one very Iar. There must be a cooperation, a consent, an
aspiration, a will to change. (CWSA 29: 86)

V (B) 4. 'II there were no conditions at all |in Yoga|, then
there would be no need oI sadhana; all would be done
automatically by the Force or help without any need oI eIIort by
the sadhak. The help is always there and it has pulled you out oI
many diIIiculties and attacks. It is, I suppose, because oI the
Ieeling 'I do not want to do anything that you have not been able
to receive the help, but that is a temporary inertia oI the physical
mind and will. I do not see the use oI your going back Ior a Iew
months to a liIe which could not now satisIy you. The only course
is to shake oII the inertia oI the will and persevere. (CWSA 29:
86)












V (B) Personal Effort is better than Tamasic inertia

"&

VI How to Surrender The effort needed in the initial
stage.

'It is always better to make an eIIort in the right direction; even iI
one Iails the eIIort bears some result and is never lost. (CWSA
29: 87)

VI 1. 'The personal eIIort required is a triple labour oI
aspiration, rejection and surrender . surrender oI oneselI and all
one is and has and every plane oI the consciousness and every
movement to the Divine and the Shakti. (SABCL 25: 6-7)
(CWSA 32: 6)

VI 2. a. 'The kind oI outward obedience you lay stress on, asking
Ior a direction in every detail, is not the essence oI surrender,
although obedience is the natural Iruit and outward body oI
surrender. Surrender is Irom within, opening and giving the mind,
vital, physical, .. (SABCL 25: 273) (CWSA 32: 346-347)

VI 2. b. 'It depends on the sadhak |whether the surrender should
begin Irom within|. Some may Iind it necessary to surrender the
external activities Iirst so as to bring the inner surrender. (CWSA
29: 71)

VI 3. a. 'And even when you are told, 'Make your surrender
total and the work will be done Ior you, it is quite all right, but to
make your surrender total, every day and at every moment you
must choose to make your surrender total, otherwise you will not
do it, it will not get done by itselI. It is you who must want to do it.
When it is done, all goes well, when you have the Knowledge also,

"'

all goes well, and when you are identiIied with the Divine, all goes
even better, but till then you must will, choose and decide. Don`t
go to sleep lazily, saying, 'Oh! The work will be done Ior me, I
have nothing to do but let myselI glide along with the stream.
Besides, it is not true, the work is not done by itselI, because iI the
least little thing thwarts your little will, it says, 'No, not that!...
Then? 21 April 1951 (CWM 4: 342-343)

VI - 3. b. 'Reject too the Ialse and indolent expectation that the
divine Power will do even the surrender Ior you. The Supreme
demands your surrender to her, but does not impose it: you are Iree
at every moment, till the irrevocable transIormation comes, to deny
and to reject the Divine or to recall your selI-giving, iI you are
willing to suIIer the spiritual consequence. Your surrender must be
selI-made and Iree; it must be the surrender oI a living being, not
oI an inert automation or mechanical tool. (SABCL 25: 4)
(CWSA 32: 4)

VI - 3. c. 'All the play in this world is based on a certain relative
Iree will in the individual being. Even in the sadhana it remains
and his consent is necessary at each step even though it is by
surrender to the Divine that he escapes Irom ignorance and
separateness and ego, it must be at every step a Iree surrender.
(CWSA 29: 68)

VI 4. a. 'Well, the surrender, that is, the selI-giving to the
Divine, must be happy, joyIul, made gladly; it must be strong, one
must not give oneselI through weakness and impotence but with an
active and strong will. And then the surrender must not remain
absolutely indolent: 'I have made my surrender, I have nothing
VI How to Surrender The effort needed in the initial stage

"(

more to do in liIe, I have only to remain still, my surrender is
made. And it must be helpIul, that is, it must be activeit must
undertake the transIormation oI the being or do some useIul work.
26 April 1951 (CWM 4: 357)

VI - 4. b. 'A glad and strong and helpIul submission is demanded
to the working oI the Divine Force, the obedience oI the illumined
disciple oI the Truth, oI the inner Warrior who Iights against
obscurity and Ialsehood, oI the IaithIul servant oI the Divine.
(SABCL 25: 4-5) (CWSA 32: 5)

VI -5. a. 'Surrender: the decision to hand over the responsibility oI
your liIe to the Divine. This is done either through the mind or the
emotion or the liIe-impulse or through all oI them together.
Words oI the Mother II (CWM 14: 107)

VI - 5. b. 'It is only the more mechanical parts oI the being that
can truly say they are helpless: the physical (material)
consciousness, especially, is inert in its nature and moved either by
the mental and vital or by the higher Iorces. But one has always the
power to put the mental will or vital push at the service oI the
Divine. (SABCL 23: 590) (CWSA 29: 85)

VI - 5. c. 'That is the attitude oI inner surrender} into which one
must grow; Ior, certainly, it cannot be made perIect at once; mental
and vital movements come across; but iI one keeps the will to it, it
will grow in the being. The rest is a matter oI obedience to the
guidance when it makes itselI maniIest not allowing one's
mental and vital movements to interIere. (SABCL 23: 587-588)
(CWSA 29: 71)
VI How to Surrender The effort needed in the initial stage

")


VI. 6. a. 'Yoga means union with the Divine, and the union is
eIIected through oIIeringit is Iounded on the oIIering oI yourselI
to the Divine. In the beginning you start by making this oIIering in
a general way, as though once Ior all; you say, 'I am the servant oI
the Divine; my liIe is given absolutely to the Divine; all my eIIorts
are Ior the realisation oI the Divine LiIe. But that is only the Iirst
step; Ior this is not suIIicient. When the resolution has been taken,
when you have decided that the whole oI your liIe shall be given to
the Divine, you have still at every moment to remember it and
carry it out in all the details oI your existence. You must Ieel at
every step that you belong to the Divine; you must have the
constant experience that, in whatever you think or do, it is always
the Divine Consciousness that is acting through you. You have no
longer anything that you can call your own; you Ieel everything as
coming Irom the Divine, and you have to oIIer it back to its source.
When you can realise that, then even the smallest thing to which
you do not usually pay much attention or care, ceases to be trivial
and insigniIicant; it becomes Iull oI meaning and it opens up a vast
horizon beyond. Questions and Answers 1929 (28 April) (CWM
3:23)

VI - 6. b. 'Every moment and every movement oI our being is to
be resolved into a continuous and a devoted selI-giving to the
Eternal. All our actions, not less the smallest and most ordinary
and triIling than the greatest and most uncommon and noble, must
be perIormed as consecrated acts. . Our very inspiration and
respiration, our very heart-beats can and must be made conscious
in us as the living rhythm oI the universal sacriIice. (SABCL 20:
102-103) (CWSA 23: 111)
VI How to Surrender The effort needed in the initial stage
#*


VI - 6. c. 'This is what you have to do to carry out your general
oIIering in detailed oIIerings. Live constantly in the presence oI
the Divine; live in the Ieeling that it is this presence which moves
you and is doing everything you do. OIIer all your movements to
it, not only every mental action, every thought and Ieeling but even
the most ordinary and external actions such as eating; when you
eat, you must Ieel that it is the Divine who is eating through you.
When you can thus gather all your movements into the One LiIe,
then you have in you unity instead oI division. No longer is one
part oI your nature given to the Divine, while the rest remains in its
ordinary ways, engrossed in ordinary things; your entire liIe is
taken up, an integral transIormation is gradually realised in you.
(CWM 3: 23-24)

VI 6. d. 'II you can`t as yet remember the Divine all the time you
are working, it does not greatly matter. To remember and dedicate
at the beginning and give thanks at the end ought to be enough Ior
the present. Or at the most to remember too when there is a pause.
. When people remember all the time during work (it can be
done), it is usually with the back oI their minds or else there is
created gradually a Iaculty oI double thought or else a double
consciousness one in Iront that works, and one within that
witnesses and remembers. . Aspiration and will oI consecration
calling down a greater Force to do the work is a method which
brings great results, even iI in some it takes a long time about it.
That is a great secret oI sadhana, to know how to get things done
by the Power behind or above instead oI doing all by the mind`s
eIIort. (CWSA 29: 214-215)

VI How to Surrender The effort needed in the initial stage
#!

VI 7. 'Because the least detail oI liIe and action, each movement
oI thought, even oI sensation, oI Ieeling, which is normally oI little
importance, becomes diIIerent the moment you look at it asking
yourselI, 'Did I think this as an oIIering to the Divine, did I Ieel
this as an oIIering to the Divine?... II you recall this every
moment oI your liIe, the attitude becomes quite diIIerent Irom
what it was beIore. It becomes very wide; it is a chain oI
innumerable little things each having its own place, whilst
Iormerly you used to let them go by without being aware oI them.
That widens the Iield oI consciousness. II you take a halI hour oI
your liIe and think oI it, putting to yourselI this question: 'Is it a
consecration to the Divine? you will see that the small things
become a big thing and you will have the impression that liIe
becomes rich and luminous. 22 February 1951 (CWM 4: 133)

VI 8. 'Many begin by selI-giving; Ior them the easiest movement
is to give themselves. In the beginning the giving is a little
indeIinite, then one has to make an eIIort at times to surrender in
detail; you can give yourselI with much enthusiasm, but when at
every step you have to submit to the higher Will, the thing
becomes more diIIicult. 22 February 1951 (CWM 4: 134)

VI 9. 'Detailed surrender means the surrender oI all the details oI
liIe, even the smallest and the most insigniIicant in appearance.
And this means to remember the Divine in all circumstances;
whatever we think, Ieel or do, we must do it Ior Him as a way oI
coming close to Him, to be more and more what He wants us to be,
capable oI maniIesting His will in perIect sincerity and purity, to
be the instruments oI His Love. (CWM 14: 108)

VI How to Surrender The effort needed in the initial stage

#"

VI 10. a. 'The absolute surrender must be not only an experience
in meditation, but a Iact governing all the liIe, all the thoughts,
Ieelings, actions. Till then the use oI one's own will and eIIort is
necessary, but an eIIort in which also there is the spirit oI
surrender, calling in the Force to support the will and eIIort and
undisturbed by success or Iailure. When the Force takes up the
sadhana, then indeed eIIort may cease, but still there will be the
necessity oI the constant assent oI the being and a vigilance so that
one may not admit a Ialse Force at any point. (SABCL 23: 592-
593) (CWSA 29: 73-74)

VI - 10. b. 'EIIort} is necessary till the Force comes Ilooding
down into the being Irom above and takes up the sadhana, . but
even then, iI not eIIort, at least aspiration and vigilance are needed
till the possession oI mind, will, liIe body by the Divine Power is
complete. (SABCL 23: 589)(CWSA 29: 84)

VI - 10. c. 'To give up restraint would be to give Iree play to the
vital and that would mean leave Ior all kinds oI Iorces to enter in.
So long as there is not the supramental consciousness controlling
and penetrating everything, in all the being Irom overmind
downwards, there is an ambiguous play oI Iorces, and each Iorce,
however divine in origin, may be used by the Powers oI light or
intercepted as it passes through the mind and the vital by the
Powers oI darkness. Vigilance, discrimination, control cannot be
abandoned till the complete victory has been won and the
consciousness transmuted. (SABCL 23: 607) (CWSA 29: 119)


VI How to Surrender The effort needed in the initial stage

##

VI 11. a. In active surrender, a dynamic will, he knows that iI
he is not sustained by Iorces other than his own, he will do nothing
much, so in his will he must be open to the inspiration, he calls Ior
inspiration and continues to make eIIort.}
'But suppose, Ior example, through a concurrence oI
circumstances, a work comes into your hands. Take an artist who
has in one way or another got an inspiration and resolved to paint a
picture. He knows very well that iI he has no inspiration and is not
sustained by Iorces other than his own, he will do nothing much. It
will look more like a daub than a painting. He knows this. But it
has been settled, the painting is to be done; there may be many
reasons Ior that, but the painting has to be done. Then iI he had the
passive attitude, well, he would place his palette, his colours, his
brushes, his canvas and then sit down in Iront oI it and say to the
Divine: 'Now you are going to paint. But the Divine does not do
things this way. The painter himselI must take up everything and
arrange everything, concentrate on his subject, Iind the Iorms, the
colours that will express it and put his whole will Ior a more and
more perIect execution. His will must be there all the time. But he
has to keep the sense that he must be open to the inspiration, he
will not Iorget that in spite oI all his knowledge oI the technique, in
spite oI the care he takes to arrange, organise and prepare his
colours, his Iorms, his design, in spite oI all that, iI he has no
inspiration, it will be one picture among a million others and it will
not be very interesting. He does not Iorget. He attempts, he tries to
see, to Ieel what he wants his painting to express and in what way
it should be expressed. He has his colours, he has his brushes, he
has his model, he has made his sketch which he will enlarge and
make into a picture, he calls his inspiration. There are even some
who manage to have a clear, precise vision oI what is to be done.
VI How to Surrender The effort needed in the initial stage
#$

But then, day aIter day, hour aIter hour, they have this will to
work, to study, to do with care all that must be done until they
reproduce as perIectly as they can the Iirst inspiration.... That
person has worked Ior the Divine, in communion with Him, but
not in a passive way, not with a passive surrender; it is with an
active surrender, a dynamic will. The result generally is something
very good. Well, the example oI the painter is interesting, because
a painter who is truly an artist is able to see what he is going to do,
he is able to connect himselI to the divine Power that is beyond all
expression and inspires all expression. For the poet, the writer, it is
the same thing and Ior all people who do something, it is the
same. 13th May 1953 (CWM 5: 46-47)

VI 11. b. 'Mind must learn Irom the greater Consciousness it is
approaching and not impose its own standards on it; it has to
receive illumination, open to a higher Truth, admit a greater Power
that does not work according to mental canons, surrender itselI and
allow its halI-light halIdarkness to be Ilooded Irom above till
where it was blind it can see, where it was deaI it can hear, where
it was insensible it can Ieel, and where it was baIIled, uncertain,
questioning, disappointed it can have joy, IulIilment, certitude and
peace. (CWSA 28: 341-342)

VI 12. 'You must not believe that adopting the attitude oI the
baby cat lets you oII Irom all personal eIIort. Because you are not a
baby cat, human beings are not baby cats! There are in you
innumerable elements which are accustomed to trusting only
themselves, which want to do their own work, and it is much more
diIIicult to control all these elements than to let oneselI go in all
circumstances. It is very diIIicult. First oI all, there is always that
VI How to Surrender The effort needed in the initial stage
#%

wonderIul work oI the mind which likes so very much to observe,
criticise, analyse, doubt, try to solve the problem, say, 'Is it good
thus?, 'Would it not be better like that?, and so on. So that goes
on and on, and where is the baby cat?... For the baby cat does not
think! It is Iree Irom all this and hence it is much easier Ior it!
Whatever be the way you Iollow, personal eIIort is always
necessary till the moment oI identiIication. At that moment all
eIIort drops Irom you like a worn-out robe, you are another person:
what was impossible Ior you becomes not only possible but
indispensable, you cannot do otherwise.
You must be attentive, silent, must await the inner
inspiration, not do anything Irom external reactions, you must be
moved by the light that comes Irom above, constantly, regularly,
must act only under the inspiration oI that light and nothing else.
Never to think, never to question, never to ask 'Should I do this or
that?, but to know, to see, to hear. To act with an inner certitude
without questioning and without doubting, because the decision
does not come Irom you, it comes Irom above. Well, this may
come very soon or one may have to wait perhaps a long timethat
depends upon one`s previous preparation, upon many things. Till
then you must will and will with persistence, and above all never
lose patience or courage. II necessary, repeat the same thing a
thousand times, knowing that perhaps the thousandth time you will
realise the result. 10 February 1951 (CWM 4: 94-95)

VI 13. 'II you surrender you have to give up eIIort, but that does
not mean that you have to abandon also all willed action. On the
contrary, you can hasten the realisation by lending your will to the
Divine Will. That too is surrender in another Iorm.
VI How to Surrender The effort needed in the initial stage
#&

What is required oI you is not a passive surrender, in which you
become like a block, but to put your will at the disposal oI the
Divine Will. .
You have a will and you can oIIer that will. . The surrender
comes in when you take the attitude that says, 'I give my will to
the Divine. . I have not the knowledge, let the Divine Will work
it out Ior me. Your will must continue to act steadily, not in the
way oI choosing a particular action or demanding a particular
object, but as an ardent aspiration concentrated upon the end to be
achieved. This is the Iirst step. II you are vigilant, iI your attention
is alert, you will certainly receive something in the Iorm oI an
inspiration oI what is to be done and that you must Iorthwith
proceed to do. Only, you must remember that to surrender is to
accept whatever is the result oI your action, though the result may
be quite diIIerent Irom what you expect. On the other hand, iI your
surrender is passive, you will do nothing and try nothing; you will
simply go to sleep and wait Ior a miracle.
Now to know whether your will or desire is in agreement
with the Divine Will or not, you must look and see whether you
have an answer or have no answer, whether you Ieel supported or
contradicted, not by the mind or the vital or the body, but by that
something which is always there deep in the inner being, in your
heart. 21 April 1929 (CWM 3: 18-19)

VI 14. 'But since no human system has this endless receptivity
and unIailing capacity, the supramental Yoga can succeed only iI
the Divine Force as it descends increases the personal power and
equates the strength that receives with the Force that enters Irom
above to work in the nature. This is only possible iI there is on our
part a progressive surrender oI the being into the hands oI the
VI How to Surrender The effort needed in the initial stage

#'

Divine; there must be a complete and never Iailing assent, a
courageous willingness to let the Divine Power do with us
whatever is needed Ior the work that has to be done. (SABCL 17:
71) (CWSA 12: 169-170)

VI 15. a. 'Not to impose one's mind and vital will on the Divine
but to receive the Divine's will and Iollow it, is the true attitude oI
sadhana. Not to say, 'This is my right, want, claim, need,
requirement, why do I not get it? but to give oneselI, to surrender
and to receive with joy whatever the Divine gives, not grieving or
revolting, is the better way. Then what you receive will be the right
thing Ior you. (SABCL 23: 597) (CWSA 29: 75)

. To be Iree Irom all preIerence and receive joyIully whatever
comes Irom the Divine Will is not possible at Iirst Ior any human
being. What one should have at Iirst is the constant idea that what
the Divine wills is always Ior the best even when the mind does
not see how it is so, to accept with resignation what one cannot yet
accept with gladness and so to arrive at a calm equality which is
not shaken even when on the surIace there may be passing
movements oI a momentary reaction to outward happenings. II that
is once Iirmly Iounded, the rest can come. (SABCL 23: 597)
(CWSA 29: 134)

VI - 15. b. 'But beIore eliminating the will oI the ego, which takes
a very long time, one can begin by surrendering the will oI the ego
to the Divine Will at every opportunity and Iinally in a constant
way. For this, the Iirst step is to understand that the Divine knows
better than we what is good Ior us and what we truly need, not only
Ior our spiritual progress but also Ior our material wellbeing, the
VI How to Surrender The effort needed in the initial stage
#(

health oI our body and the proper Iunctioning oI all the activities oI
our being. 19 September 1959 (CWM 16: 224)

VI 16. a. 'A complete surrender is not possible in so short a
time,Ior a complete surrender means to cut the knot oI the ego in
each part oI the being and oIIer it, Iree and whole, to the Divine.
The mind, the vital, the physical consciousness (and even each part
oI these in all its movements) have one aIter the other to surrender
separately, to give up their own way and to accept the way oI the
Divine. But what one can do is to make Irom the beginning a
central resolve and selI-dedication and to implement it in whatever
way one Iinds open, at each step, taking advantage oI each
occasion that oIIers itselI to make the selI-giving complete. A
surrender in one direction makes others easier, more inevitable; but
it does not oI itselI cut or loosen the other knots, and especially
those which are very intimately bound up with the present
personality and its most cherished Iormations may oIten present
great diIIiculties, even aIter the central will has been Iixed and the
Iirst seals put on its resolve in practice. (SABCL 23: 591-592)
(CWSA 29: 72-73)

VI 16. b. 'There is individuality in the psychic being but not
egoism. Egoism goes when the individual unites himselI with the
Divine or is entirely surrendered to the Divine. (CWSA 28: 124)

VI 17. a. 'Surrender and love-bhakti are not contrary things
they go together. It is true that at Iirst surrender can be made
through knowledge by the mind but it implies a mental bhakti and,
as soon as the surrender reaches the heart, the bhakti maniIests as a
VI How to Surrender The effort needed in the initial stage
#)

Ieeling and with the Ieeling oI bhakti love comes. (SABCL 23:
599) (CWSA 29: 78)

VI - 17. b. 'SelI-surrender at Iirst comes through love and bhakti,
more than through Atmajana. But it is true that with Atmajana
the complete surrender becomes more possible. (SABCL 23: 598)
(CWSA 29: 78)

VI - 17. c. It the attitude oI surrender} cannot be absolutely
complete in the beginning, but it can be trueiI the central will is
sincere and there is the Iaith and the Bhakti. There may be contrary
movements, but these will be unable to stand Ior long and the
imperIection oI the surrender in the lower part will not seriously
interIere with the power and pervasiveness oI the inner attitude.
(SABCL 23: 592) (CWSA 29: 72)

VI - 17. d. 'Complete surrender can best come by a complete love
and bhakti. Bhakti, on the other hand, can begin without surrender,
but it naturally leads, as it Iorms itselI, to surrender. (SABCL 23:
909)

VI - 17. e. 'There can be devotion and surrender on the higher
spiritual planes, but it is not inevitable as in the psychic. In the
higher mind one may be too conscious oI identity with the
'Brahman to have devotion or surrender. (SABCL 23: 599)
(CWSA 29: 78)

VI 18. 'Your idea that surrender can only come by love is a point
in instance. It is perIectly true in yogic experience that surrender
by true love, which means psychic and spiritual love, is the most
VI How to Surrender The effort needed in the initial stage

$*

powerIul, simple and eIIective oI all, but one cannot, putting that
Iorward as a dictum arrived at by the ordinary reason, shut up the
whole oI possible experience oI surrender into that Iormula or
announce on its strength that one must wait till one loves perIectly
beIore one can surrender. (SABCL 22: 192-193) (CWSA 28: 384-
385)

VI 19. 'Yogic experience shows that surrender can also be made
by the mind and will, a clear and sincere mind seeing the necessity
oI surrender and a clear and sincere will enIorcing it on the
recalcitrant |disobedient| members. Also, experience shows that
not only can surrender come by love, but love also can come by
surrender or grow with it Irom an imperIect to a perIect love. One
starts by an intense idea and will to know or reach the Divine and
surrenders more and more one's ordinary personal ideas, desires,
attachments, urges to action or habits oI action so that the Divine
may take up everything. (SABCL 22: 192-193) (CWSA 28: 385)

VI 20. 'Talk oI surrender or a mere idea or tepid halIhearted}
wish Ior integral consecration will not do; there must be the push
Ior a radical and total change.
It is not by taking a mere mental attitude that this can be
done or even by any number oI inner experiences which leave the
outer man as he was. It is this outer man who has to open, to
surrender and to change. His every least movement, habit, action
has to be surrendered, seen, held up and exposed to the divine
Light, oIIered to the divine Force Ior its old Iorms and motives to
be destroyed and the divine Truth and the action oI the
transIorming consciousness oI the Divine Mother to take their
place. (SABCL 23: 593) (CWSA 29: 80-81)
VI How to Surrender The effort needed in the initial stage
$!


VI 21. a. 'The core oI the inner surrender is trust and conIidence
in the Divine. One takes the attitude: 'I want the Divine and
nothing else. I want to give myselI entirely to him and since my
soul wants that, it cannot be but that I shall meet and realise him. I
ask nothing but that and his action in me to bring me to him, his
action secret or open, veiled or maniIest. I do not insist on my own
time and way; let him do all in his own time and way; I shall
believe in him, accept his will, aspire steadily Ior his light and
presence and joy, go through all diIIiculties and delays, relying on
him and never giving up. Let my mind be quiet and trust him and
let him open it to his light; let my vital be quiet and turn to him
alone and let him open it to his calm and joy. All Ior him and
myselI Ior him. Whatever happens, I will keep to this aspiration
and selI-giving and go on in perIect reliance that it will be done.
(SABCL 23: 587) (CWSA 29: 70)

VI - 21. b. '. iI one wanted the Divine, the Divine himselI would
take up the puriIying oI the heart and develop the sadhana and give
the necessary experiences; it can and does happen in that way iI
one has trust and conIidence in the Divine and the will to
surrender. For such a taking up involves one's putting oneselI in
the hands oI the Divine rather than relying on one's own eIIorts
alone and this implies one's putting one's trust and conIidence in
the Divine and a progressive selI-giving. It is in Iact the principle
oI sadhana that I myselI Iollowed and it is the central process oI
yoga as I envisage it. It is, I suppose, what Sri Ramakrishna meant
by the method oI the baby-cat in his image. (SABCL 23: 586-
587) (CWSA 29: 70)

VI How to Surrender The effort needed in the initial stage
$"

VI - 22. a. 'Not only is the positive movement oI selI giving
necessary but also the negative movement oI rejection oI
everything in you that opposes this giving. You must not leave
things 'like that, buried somewhere, in such a way that at the Iirst
opportunity they wake up and undo all your work. 26 April 1951
(CWM 4: 358)

VI - 22. b. 'Well, these people have developed only the positive
side. They make a kind oI discipline oI aspiration, they ask Ior
help, they try to come into contact with higher Iorces, they succeed
in this, they have experiences; but they have completely neglected
cleaning their room; it has remained as dirty as ever, and so,
naturally, when the experience has gone, this dirt becomes still
more repulsive than beIore.
One must never neglect to clean one`s room, it is very
important; inner cleanliness is at least as important as outer
cleanliness. (CWM 4: 359)

VI 23. a. 'In our Yoga we begin with the idea, the will, the
aspiration oI the complete surrender; but at the same time we have
to reject the lower nature, deliver our consciousness Irom it,
deliver the selI involved in the lower nature by the selI rising to
Ireedom in the higher nature. II we do not do this double
movement, we are in danger oI making a tamasic and thereIore
unreal surrender, making no eIIort, no tapas and thereIore no
progress; or else we may make a rajasic surrender not to the Divine
but to some selI-made Ialse idea or image oI the Divine which
masks our rajasic ego or something still worse. (SABCL22: 70)
(CWSA 29: 442)

VI How to Surrender The effort needed in the initial stage
$#

VI - 23. b. 'The practice oI rejection prevails in the end; but with
personal eIIort only, it may take a long time. II you can Ieel the
Divine Power working in you, then it should become easier. There
should be nothing inert or tamasic in the selI-giving to the
guidance and it should not be made by any part oI the vital into a
plea Ior not rejecting the suggestions oI lower impulse and desire.
(SABCL 23: 594) (CWSA 29: 66)

VI - 23. c. 'There is a period, more or less prolonged, oI internal
eIIort and struggle in which the individual will has to reject the
darkness and distortions oI the lower nature and to put itselI
resolutely or vehemently on the side oI the divine Light. The
mental energies, the heart`s emotions, the vital desires, the very
physical being have to be compelled into the right attitude or
trained to admit and answer to the right inIluences. It is only then,
only when this has been truly done, that the surrender oI the lower
to the higher can be eIIected, because the sacriIice has become
acceptable. (SABCL 20: 54) (CWSA 23: 60)

VI 24. a. 'For surrender it is necessary not to insist on the mind`s
opinions, ideas and preIerences, the vital`s desires and impulses,
the physical`s habitual actions, the liIe oI the ego all such
insistence is contrary to surrender. All egoism and selI-will has to
be abandoned and one must seek to be governed only by the
Divine Shakti. No complete surrender is possible without the
psychic opening. (CWSA 29: 76)

VI 24. b. 'Faith, reliance upon God, surrender and selI-giving to
the Divine Power are necessary and indispensable. But reliance
upon God must not be made an excuse Ior indolence, weakness
VI How to Surrender The effort needed in the initial stage

$$

and surrender to the impulses oI the lower nature; it must go along
with untiring aspiration and a persistent rejection oI all that comes
in the way oI the Divine Truth. The surrender to the Divine must
not be turned into an excuse, a cloak or an occasion Ior surrender
to one`s own desires and lower movements or to one`s ego or to
some Force oI the ignorance and darkness that puts on a Ialse
appearance oI the Divine. (CWSA 29: 87)

VI 24. c. 'The surrender must be complete. Nothing must be
reserved, no desire, no demand, no opinion, no idea that this must
be, that cannot be, that this should be and that should not be;all
must be given. The heart must be puriIied oI all desire, the intellect
oI all selI-will, every duality must be renounced, the whole world
seen and unseen must be recognised as one supreme expression oI
concealed Wisdom, Power and Bliss, and the entire being given
up, as an engine is passive in the hands oI the driver, Ior the divine
Love, Might and perIect Intelligence to do its work and IulIil its
divine Lila. Ahankara must be blotted out in order that we may
have, as God intends us ultimately to have, the perIect bliss, the
perIect calm and knowledge and the perIect activity oI the divine
existence. (SABCL 16: 413) (CWSA 13: 73-74)

VI 25. a. 'It was Irom your description oI the reaction that I said
there was a vital demand. In the pure psychic or spiritual selI-
giving there are no reactions oI this kind; no despondency or
despair, no saying, 'What have I gained by seeking the Divine?,
no anger, revolt, abhiman, wish to go awaysuch as you describe
herebut an absolute conIidence and a persistence in clinging to
the Divine under all conditions. That is what I wanted you to have;
VI How to Surrender The effort needed in the initial stage

$%

it is the only basis in which one is Iree Irom troubles and reactions
and goes steadily Iorward. (SABCL 23: 601) (CWSA 29: 74-75)
'But are such Ieelings a sign oI the soul's selI-giving? II
there is no vital mixture, how do these things come when I write to
you and as the result oI my writing and trying to show you the
way? It is the Iirst movement oI this part to revolt when it is shown
its own nature and asked to change. (SABCL 23: 601)
'DiIIicult? It is the Iirst principle oI our sadhana that
surrender is the means oI IulIilment and so long as ego or vital
demand and desire are cherished, complete surrender is
impossiblethe selI-giving is incomplete. We have never
concealed that. It may be diIIicult and it is; but it is the very
principle oI the sadhana. Because it is diIIicult it has to be done
steadily and patiently till the work is complete. (SABCL 23: 601-
602) (CWSA 29: 75-76)
'You have to go on rejecting the vital mixture every time it
rises. II you are steadIast in rejecting, it will lose more and more oI
its Iorce and Iade out. That means it is an obstinate but irrational
and mechanical survival oI the old movement. That in Iact is how
these things try to survive. It is bound to go iI you do not give it
Iresh liIe. I have no doubt oI ityou have only to understand it
rightly and you can go at once to the right ground. (SABCL 23:
602)

VI 26. Q: 'How to persuade the recalcitrant parts oI our nature to
surrender?
A: Try to make them understand, as one does with a child who
does not understand, by all kinds oI means: pictures, explanations,
symbols. Make them understand the necessity oI union and
harmony with the other parts oI the being; reason with them, try to
VI How to Surrender The effort needed in the initial stage
$&

make them conscious oI their acts and the consequences oI these.
Above all, be very patient; do not tire oI repeating the same things.
In this work, can the mind be oI help? Yes, iI a part oI the mind is
Iully enlightened, iI it is surrendered to the psychic light and has a
sense oI the truth, the mind can be oI great help, it can explain
things in the true way. 8 March 1951 (CWM 4: 182-183)

VI 27. 'II diIIiculties that arise are in the nature itselI, it is
inevitable that they should rise and maniIest themselves. Surrender
is not easy, it is resisted by a large part oI the nature. II the mind
Iorms the will to surrender, all these inner obstacles are bound to
show themselves; the sadhak has then to observe them and detach
himselI Irom them, reject them Irom his nature and overcome. This
may take a very long time but it has to be done.
Outer obstacles cannot prevent the inner surrender unless
they are supported by a resistance in the nature itselI. (SABCL
23: 600) (CWSA 29: 69)

VI 28. 'II you have any deIect which you want to get rid oI and
which still persists, and you say, 'I have done all that I could, you
may be sure that you have not done all that you should have. II you
had, you would have triumphed, Ior the diIIiculties that come to
you are exactly in proportion to your strengthnothing can
happen to you which does not belong to your consciousness, and
all that belongs to your consciousness you are able to master. Even
the things and suggestions that come Irom outside can touch you
only in proportion to the consent oI your consciousness, and you
are made to be the master oI your consciousness. II you say, 'I
have done all that I could and in spite oI everything the thing
continues, so I give up, you may be already sure that you have not
VI How to Surrender The effort needed in the initial stage
$'

done what you could. When an error persists 'in spite oI
everything it means that something hidden in your being springs
up suddenly like a Jack-in-the-box and takes the helm oI your liIe.
Hence, there is only one thing to do, it is to go hunting Ior all the
little dark corners which lie hidden in you and, iI you put just a
tiny spark oI goodwill on this darkness, it will yield, will vanish,
and what appeared to you impossible will become not only
possible, practicable, but it will have been done. You can in this
way in one minute get rid oI a diIIiculty which would have
harassed you Ior years. I absolutely assure you oI it. That depends
only on one thing: that you truly, sincerely, want to get rid oI it.
And it is the same Ior everything, Irom physical illnesses up to the
highest mental diIIiculties. 5 February 1951 (CWM 4: 74)

VI 29. 'This descent, this working is not without its possibility oI
calamitous Iall and danger. II the human mind or the vital desire
seizes hold on the descending Iorce and tries to use it according to
its own limited and erring ideas or Ilawed and egoistic impulses,
and this is inevitable in some degree until this lower mortal has
learned something oI the way oI that greater immortal nature,
stumblings and deviations, hard and seemingly insuperable
obstacles and wounds and suIIering cannot be escaped and even
death or utter downIall are not impossible. Only when the
conscious integral surrender to the Divine has been learned by
mind and liIe and body, can the way oI the Yoga become easy,
straight, swiIt and saIe. (SABCL 17: 72) (CWSA 12: 170)

VI 30. 'It is necessary iI you want to progress in your sadhana
that you should make the submission and surrender oI which you
speak sincere, real and complete. This cannot be as long as you
VI How to Surrender The effort needed in the initial stage

$(

mix up your desires with your spiritual aspiration. It cannot be as
long as you cherish vital attachment to Iamily, child or anything or
anybody else. II you are to do this Yoga, you must have only one
desire and aspiration, to receive the spiritual Truth and maniIest it
in all your thoughts, Ieelings, actions and nature. You must not
hunger aIter any relations with anyone. The relations oI the
sadhaka with others must be created Ior him Irom within, when he
has the true consciousness and lives in the Light. They will be
determined within him by the power and will oI the Divine Mother
according to the supramental Truth Ior the divine liIe and divine
work; they must not be determined by his mind and his vital
desires. . Your psychic being is capable oI giving itselI to the
Mother and living and growing in the Truth; but your lower vital
being has been Iull oI attachments and sanskaras and an impure
movement oI desire and your external physical mind was not able
to shake oII its ignorant ideas and habits and open to the Truth. .
The Mother can only Iree you Irom these things, iI you really want
it, not only in your psychic being, but in your physical mind and all
your vital nature. (SABCL 25: 133-134) (CWSA 32: 141-142)

VI 31. 'The real bar to selI-surrender, whether to the Universal
or to the Transcendent, is the individual`s love oI his own
limitations. It is a natural love, since in the very Iormation oI the
individual being there is a tendency to concentrate on limits.
Without that, there would be no sense oI separatenessall would
be mixed, as happens quite oIten in the mental and vital
movements oI consciousness. It is the body especially which
preserves separative individuality by not being so Iluid. But once
this separateness is established, there creeps in the Iear oI losing
ita healthy instinct in many respects, but misapplied with regard
VI How to Surrender The effort needed in the initial stage

$)

to the Divine. For, in the Divine you do not really lose your
individuality: you only give up your egoism and become the true
individual, the divine personality which is not temporary like the
construction oI the physical consciousness which is usually taken
Ior your selI. One touch oI the divine consciousness and you see
immediately that there is no loss in it. On the contrary, you acquire
a true individual permanence which can survive a hundred deaths
oI the body and all the vicissitudes oI the vital-mental evolution.
(CWM 3: 169)

VI 32. a. 'And it must be a surrender and an opening to the
Divine alone and to no other. For it is possible Ior an obscure mind
or an impure liIe Iorce in us to surrender to undivine and hostile
Iorces and even to mistake them Ior the Divine. There can be no
more calamitous error. ThereIore our surrender must be no blind
and inert passivity to all inIluences or any inIluence, but sincere,
conscious, vigilant, pointed to the One and the Highest alone.
(SABCL 17: 72) (CWSA 12: 170-171)

VI - 32. b. 'But you must not Iorget that you cannot become
integrally consecrated at once. You are oIten deluded into such a
belieI when, Ior a day or two, you have a strong movement oI a
particular kind. You are led to hope that everything else will
automatically Iollow in its wake; but in Iact iI you become the least
bit selI-complacent you retard your own advance. For your being is
Iull oI innumerable tendencies at war with one anotheralmost
diIIerent personalities, we may say. When one oI them gives itselI
to the Divine, the others come up and reIuse their allegiance. 'We
have not given ourselves, they cry, and start clamouring Ior their
independence and expression. Then you bid them be quiet and
VI How to Surrender The effort needed in the initial stage

%*

show them the Truth. Patiently you have to go round your whole
being, exploring each nook and corner, Iacing all those anarchic
elements in you which are waiting Ior their psychological moment
to come up. And it is only when you have made the entire round oI
your mental, vital and physical nature, persuaded everything to
give itselI to the Divine and thus achieved an absolute uniIied
consecration that you put an end to your diIIiculties. (CWM 3:
126-127)

VI - 33. a. 'One cannot be sure oI the immediate result, Ior the
obstruction oI the lower Nature or the pressure oI the adverse
Iorces can oIten act successIully Ior a time, even Ior a long time,
against the necessary change. One has then to persist, to put always
the will on the side oI the Divine, rejecting what has to be rejected,
opening oneselI to the true Light and the true Force, calling it
down quietly, steadIastly, without tiring, without depression or
impatience, until one Ieels the Divine Force at work and the
obstacles beginning to give way.
You say you are conscious oI your ignorance and obscurity.
II it is only a general consciousness, that is not enough. But iI you
are conscious oI it in the details, in its actual working, then that is
suIIicient to start with; you have to reject steadIastly the wrong
workings oI which you are conscious and make your mind and
vital a quiet and clear Iield Ior the action oI the Divine Force.
(SABCL 23: 590-591) (CWSA 29: 85-86)





VI How to Surrender The effort needed in the initial stage

%!

VI - 33. b. For surrender to be total needs time}
'Q: It is not possible, is it, Ior the surrender to be total Irom the
very beginning?
A: Generally, no. It needs time. But there are instantaneous
conversions; to explain all that to you in detail would take too
much time. You know perhaps that in all schools oI initiation it
used to be said that it takes thirty-Iive years to change one`s
character! So you must not expect the thing to be done in a
minute. 10 February 1951 (CWM 4: 92)

'The path oI surrender is indeed diIIicult, but iI one perseveres in
it with sincerity, there is bound to be some success and a partial
overcoming or diminution oI the ego which may help greatly a
Iarther advance upon the way. . One must learn to go Iorward on
the path oI Yoga, as the Gita insists, with a consciousness Iree
Irom despondencyanirvinnacetasa. Even iI one slips, one must
rectiIy the posture; even iI one Ialls, one has to rise and go
undiscouraged on the divine way. The attitude must be, 'The
Divine has promised himselI to me iI I cleave to him always; that I
will never cease to do whatever may come. (CWSA 29: 213)

VI 34. a. 'But all cannot Iollow that at once; it takes time Ior
them to arrive at itit grows most when the mind and vital Iall
quiet.
What I mean by surrender is this inner surrender oI the
mind and vital. (SABCL 23: 587) (CWSA 29: 70)

VI - 34. b. 'There are two possibilities, one oI puriIication by
personal eIIort, which takes a long time, another by a direct
intervention oI the Divine Grace which is usually rapid in its
VI How to Surrender The effort needed in the initial stage
%"

action. For the latter there must be a complete surrender and selI-
giving and Ior that again usually it is necessary to have a mind that
can remain quite quiet and allow the Divine Force to act
supporting it with its complete adhesion at every step, but
otherwise remaining still and quiet. This last condition which
resembles the baby-cat attitude spoken oI by Ramakrishna, is
diIIicult to have. Those who are accustomed to a very active
movement oI their thought and will in all they do, Iind it diIIicult
to still the activity and adopt the quietude oI mental selI-giving.
This does not mean that they cannot do the yoga or cannot arrive at
selI-givingonly the puriIication and the selI-giving take a long
time to accomplish and one must have the patience and steady
perseverance and resolution to go through. (SABCL 23: 591)
(CWSA 29: 83)

VI 35. 'Everything should be Ior the sake oI the Divine, this
also. As Ior leaving the result to the Divine, it depends on what
you mean by the phrase. II it implies dependence on the Divine
Grace and equanimity and patience in the persistent aspiration,
then it is all right. But it must not be extended to cover slackness
and indiIIerence in the aspiration and endeavour. (SABCL 23:
595)

VI 36. 'I have said that iI one has the principle oI surrender and
union in the mind and heart there is no diIIiculty in extending it to
the obscurer parts oI the physical and the subconscient. As you
have this central surrender and union, you can easily complete it
everywhere. A quiet aspiration Ior complete consciousness is all
that is needed. Then the material and subconscient will become
penetrated by the light like the rest and there will come in a
VI How to Surrender The effort needed in the initial stage
%#

quietude, wideness, harmony Iree Irom all reactions that will be the
basis oI the Iinal change. (SABCL 23: 603) (CWSA 29: 72)

VI 37. a. 'No complete surrender is possible without the psychic
opening. (CWSA 29: 76)

VI 37. b. 'It is the psychic surrender in the physical that you
have begun to experience.
All the parts are essentially oIIered, but the surrender has to
be made complete by the growth oI the psychic selI-oIIering in all
oI them and in all their movements separately and together.
To be enjoyed by the Divine is to be entirely surrendered so
that one Ieels the Divine Presence, Power, Light, Ananda
possessing the whole being rather than oneselI possessing these
things Ior one's own satisIaction. It is a much greater ecstasy to be
thus surrendered and possessed by the Divine than oneselI to be
the possessor. At the same time by this surrender there comes also
a calm and happy mastery oI selI and nature. (SABCL 23: 602-
603) (CWSA 29: 77)

VI - 37. c. 'In the course oI your selI-oIIering, you start uniIying
your being around what has taken the Iirst decisionthe central
psychic will. All the jarring elements oI your nature have to be
harmonised, they have to be taken up one aIter another and uniIied
with the central being. You may oIIer yourselI to the Divine with a
spontaneous movement, but it is not possible to give yourselI
eIIectively without this uniIication. The more you are uniIied, the
more you are able to realise selI-giving. And once the selI-giving is
complete, consecration Iollows: it is the crown oI the whole
process oI realisation, the last step oI the gradation, aIter which
VI How to Surrender The effort needed in the initial stage

%$

there is no more trouble and everything runs smoothly. (CWM 3:
126)

VI - 37. d. 'When the psychic being and the heart and the thinking
mind have surrendered, the rest is a matter oI time and process
and there is no reason Ior disturbance. The central and eIIective
surrender has been made. (CWSA 29: 72)

VI - 37. e. 'No surrender to the psychic is demanded, the surrender
is to the Divine. (CWSA 29: 77)


VI 38. 'There must be a total and sincere surrender; there must
be an exclusive sellI-opening to the divine Power; there must be a
constant and integral choice oI the truth that is descending, a
constant and integral rejection oI the Ialsehood oI the mental, vital
and physical Powers and Appearances that still rule the earth-
Nature.
The surrender must be total and seize all the parts oI the
being. It is not enough that the psychic should respond and the
higher mental accept or even the inner vital submit and the inner
physical consciousness Ieel the inIluence. There must be no part oI
the being, even the most external, anything that makes a reserve,
anything that hides behind doubts, conIusions and subterIuges,
anything that revolts or reIuses.
II the part oI the being surrenders, but another part reserves
itselI, Iollows its own way or makes its own conditions, then each
time that happens, you are yourselI pushing the divine Grace away
Irom you. (SABCL 25: 2) (CWSA 32: 3)

VI How to Surrender The effort needed in the initial stage
%%

VI 39. 'II this attitude oI perIect selI-surrender can be even
imperIectly established, all necessity oI Yogic kriya inevitably
ceases. For then God himselI in us becomes the sadhaka and the
siddha and his divine power works in us, not by our artiIicial
processes, but by a working oI Nature which is perIectly inIormed,
all-searching and inIallibly eIIicient. Even the most powerIul
Rajayogic samyama |selI-control|, the most developed pranayama,
the most strenuous meditation, the most ecstatic Bhakti, the most
selI-denying action, mighty as they are and eIIicacious, are
comparatively weak in their results when set beside this supreme
working. For those are all limited to a certain extent by our
capacity, but this is illimitable in potency because it is God`s
capacity. It is only limited by his will which knows what is best Ior
the world and Ior each oI us in the world and apart Irom it.
(SABCL 16: 413-414) (CWSA 13: 74)














VI How to Surrender The effort needed in the initial stage
%&

VII Difficulties of Surrender and how to overcome them in
Yoga.

VII 1. a. 'It is rare that somebody can surrender entirely to the
Divine`s Will without having to Iace one or another oI the
diIIiculties.
'How many eIIorts and struggles again to give ourselves, to
surrender, once the individuality is constituted! (CWM 14: 113)

VII - 1. b. 'Tapasya has predominated in your sadhana, Ior you
have a Iervour and active energy which predisposes you to that. No
way is entirely easy, and in that oI surrender the diIIiculty is to
make a true and complete surrender. Once it is made, it certainly
makes things easiernot that things are all done in no time or that
there are no diIIiculties, but there is an assurance, a support, an
absence oI tension which gives the consciousness rest as well as
strength and Ireedom Irom the worst Iorms oI resistance. (SABCL
23: 595) (CWSA 29: 81-82)

VII 2. 'II diIIiculties that arise are in the nature itselI, it is
inevitable that they should rise and maniIest themselves. Surrender
is not easy, it is resisted by a large part oI the nature. II the mind
Iorms the will to surrender, all these inner obstacles are bound to
show themselves; the sadhak has then to observe them and detach
himselI Irom them, reject them Irom his nature and overcome. This
may take a very long time but it has to be done.
Outer obstacles cannot prevent the inner surrender unless
they are supported by a resistance in the nature itselI. (SABCL
23: 600) (CWSA 29: 69)


%'

VII 3. a. 'For iI the struggle is not an actual one, that does not
mean that it will not come one day in one Iorm or another. For
always, at least once in our liIe, we are placed in some
circumstance to test whether we are ready Ior an entire surrender to
the Divine Will; whether we are, beIore all, human beings striving
to attain and maniIest the Godhead; ready to renounce everything
in the worldwhat seems to us good as well as what seems bad
Ior that supreme conquest. In that ascent towards the heights, both
virtues and dutiesthat is to say our mental prejudices and
preIerencesstand Iar more in our way than our exterior
weaknesses and Iaults. An error can always be used as a spring-
board, whilst a virtue is more oIten a limit, a barrier that must be
surmounted. (CWM 14: 113)

VII - 3. b. 'II the Lord wills Ior you a hardship, do not protest.
Take it as a blessing and indeed it will become so. (CWM 14:
115)

VII 4. a. 'The way in which most people surrender: Let God
maniIest his will but let it be the same as mine. 15 April 1931
(CWM 14: 114)

VII - 4. b. 'To keep open means to call in her Force to work in
you, and iI you do not surrender to it, it amounts to not allowing
the Force to work in you at all or else only on condition that it will
work in the way you want and not in its own way which is the way
oI the Divine Truth. A suggestion oI this kind is usually made by
some adverse Power or by some egoistic element oI mind or vital
which wants the Grace or the Force, but only in order to use it Ior
its own purpose, and is not willing to live Ior the Divine
VII Difficulties of Surrender and how to overcome them in Yoga

%(

Purpose,it is willing to take Irom the Divine all it can get, but
not to give itselI to the Divine. The soul, the true being, on the
contrary, turns towards the Divine and is not only willing but eager
and happy to surrender. (SABCL 25: 131-132) (CWSA 32: 140-
141)

VII - 4. c. 'One thing you must know and decide: It is iI you want
the True Divine as He is, or iI you want a Divine in keeping with
your own conception oI what He ought to be. And iI you have
decided to surrender sincerely and totally to the Divine and to be
and do what He wants you to be and do according to His own will,
or iI you want the Divine to do what you want Him to do and to act
according to your own will. (CWM 14: 114)

VII 5. 'I have Iorwarded your prayer to the Supreme Lord. But iI
you want to live in Ananda, you must not try to impose your will
on the Divine, but, on the contrary, you must be ready to accept all
that comes to you Irom Him, with an equal peace; because He
knows better than we what is good Ior our progress. 13 August
1960 (CWM 14: 114)

VII 6. 'The time is come to rely only on the Divine will and to
let it work Ireely through you. I repeat, the time has come at last
not to rely any more on one`s own petty will, to hand over the
whole aIIair to the Divine`s will and let it do its work through you,
not only your mind and Ieelings but mainly through the body; and
iI you do it sincerely, all this body nonsense will disappear and you
will be strong and Iit Ior your work. (CWM 14: 114)

VII Difficulties of Surrender and how to overcome them in Yoga

%)

VII 7. a. 'But iI, instead oI looking outside Ior support, you
concentrate and you prayinside, to the supreme knowledgeto
know at each moment what is to be done, the way to do it, and iI
you give all you are, all you do in order to acquire perIection, you
will Ieel that the support is there, always guiding, showing the
way. And iI there is a diIIiculty, then instead oI wanting to Iight,
you hand it over, hand it over to the supreme wisdom to deal with
itto deal with all the bad wills, all the misunderstandings, all the
bad reactions. II you surrender completely, it is no more your
concern: it`s the concern oI the Supreme who takes it up and
knows better than anybody else what is to be done. The only way
out, only way out. There, my child. (CWM 15: 400)

VII - 7. b. 'When men will understand that the Divine knows
better than they do what is the best Ior them, many oI their
diIIiculties will disappear. 1 April 1963 (CWM 14: 115)

VII 8. 'For this great and complete liberation it is necessary that
you should be nihsprha, nirdvandva and nirahankara, without the
longing and reaching aIter things, Iree Irom the samskara oI the
dualities and Iree Irom egoism; Ior these three things are the chieI
enemies oI selI-surrender. (SABCL 16: 422) (CWSA 13: 82-83)

VII 9. 'Each oI the gunas modes oI nature} working on the
ahankara ego-sense} has its particular danger Ior the sadhak who
has made the sankalpa resolution} oI selI-surrender, but has not
yet attained to the Iull accomplishment oI the surrender.


VII Difficulties of Surrender and how to overcome them in Yoga

&*

VII - 9. a. 'The danger oI the rajoguna is when the sadhak is
assailed by the pride that thinks, 'I am a great sadhak, I have
advanced so Iar, I am a great instrument in God`s hands, and
similar ideas, or when he attaches himselI to the work as God`s
work which must be carried out, putting himselI into it and
troubling himselI about it as iI he had more interest in God`s work
than God himselI and could manage it better. Many, while they are
acting all the while in the spirit oI rajasic ahankara, persuade
themselves that God is working through them and they have no
part in the action. This is because they are satisIied with the mere
intellectual assent to the idea without waiting Ior the whole system
and liIe to be Iull oI it. A continual remembrance oI God in others
and renunciation oI individual eagerness (sprha) are needed and a
careIul watching oI our inner activities until God by the Iull light
oI selI-knowledge, jnanad!pena bhasvata, dispels all Iurther chance
oI selI-delusion. (SABCL 16: 424) (CWSA 13: 84)

VII - 9. b. 'The danger oI tamoguna is twoIold, Iirst, when the
Purusha thinks, identiIying himselI with the tamas in him, 'I am
weak, sinIul, miserable, ignorant, good-Ior-nothing, inIerior to this
man and inIerior to that man, adhama, what will God do through
me?as iI God were limited by the temporary capacities or
incapacities oI his instruments and it were not true that he can
make the dumb to talk and the lame to cross the hills, (mukam
karoti vacalam pangum langhayate girim,) and again when the
sadhak tastes the relieI, the tremendous relieI oI a negative santi
and, Ieeling himselI delivered Irom all troubles and in possession
oI peace, turns away Irom liIe and action and becomes attached to
the peace and ease oI inaction. Remember always that you too are
Brahman and the divine Shakti is working in you; reach out always
VII Difficulties of Surrender and how to overcome them in Yoga
&!

to the realisation oI God`s omnipotence and his delight in the Lila.
He bids Arjuna work lokasangraharthaya, Ior keeping the world
together, Ior he does not wish the world to sink back into Prakriti,
but insists on your acting as he acts, 'These worlds would be
overpowered by tamas and sink into Prakriti iI I did not do
actions. To be attached to inaction is to give up our action not to
God but to our tamasic ahankara. (SABCL 16: 424-425) (CWSA
13: 84-85)

VII - 9. c. 'The danger oI the sattvaguna is when the sadhak
becomes attached to any one-sided conclusion oI his reason, to
some particular kriya or movement oI the sadhana, to the joy oI
any particular siddhi oI the yoga, perhaps the sense oI purity or the
possession oI some particular power or the Ananda oI the contact
with God or the sense oI Ireedom and hungers aIter it, becomes
attached to that only and would have nothing else.
Remember that the yoga is not Ior yourselI; Ior these things,
though they are part oI the siddhi, are not the object oI the siddhi,
Ior you have decided at the beginning to make no claim upon God
but take what he gives you Ireely and, as Ior the Ananda, the
selIless soul will even Iorego the joy oI God`s presence, when that
is God`s will. You must be Iree even Irom the highest sattwic
ahankra, even Irom the subtle ignorance oI mumuksutva, the desire
oI liberation, and take all joy and delight without attachment. You
will then be the siddha or perIect man oI the Gita. (SABCL 16:
425) (CWSA 13: 85)



VII Difficulties of Surrender and how to overcome them in Yoga

&"

VII 10. 'The hours preceding Victory are most oIten the most
diIIicult. For the individual`s surrender, it is the last resistances,
sometimes quite insigniIicant, that are the most obstinate and
diIIicult to conquer. But with a greater obstinacy a victorious
conclusion oI the Iight is certain. (CWM 14: 220-221)

























VII Difficulties of Surrender and how to overcome them in Yoga

&#

VIII The Process of Surrender in the Integral Yoga.

VIII 1. 'For here, there are two movements with a transitional
stage between them, two periods oI this Yoga,one oI the process
oI surrender, the other oI its crown and consequence. In the Iirst
the individual prepares himselI Ior the reception oI the Divine into
his members. For all this Iirst period he has to work by means oI
the instruments oI the lower Nature, but aided more and more Irom
above. (SABCL 20: 79) (CWSA 23: 86)

VIII 2. 'But the entire substitution oI the divine Ior the human
personal action is not at once entirely possible. All interIerence
Irom below that would IalsiIy the truth oI the superior action must
Iirst be inhibited or rendered impotent, and it must be done by our
own Iree choice. A continual and always repeated reIusal oI the
impulsions and Ialsehoods oI the lower nature is asked Irom us and
an insistent support to the Truth as it grows in our parts; Ior the
progressive settling into our nature and Iinal perIection oI the
incoming inIorming Light, Purity and Power needs Ior its
development and sustenance our Iree acceptance oI it and our
stubborn rejection oI all that is contrary to it, inIerior or
incompatible. (SABCL 20: 80) (CWSA 23: 86-87)

VIII 3. a. 'In the Iirst movement oI selI-preparation, the period
oI personal eIIort, the method we have to use is this concentration
oI the whole being on the Divine that it seeks and, as its corollary,
this constant rejection, throwing out, katharsis, oI all that is not the
true Truth oI the Divine. An entire consecration oI all that we are,
think, Ieel and do will be the result oI this persistence. This
consecration in its turn must culminate in an integral selIgiving to
&$

the Highest; Ior its crown and sign oI completion is the whole
nature`s all-comprehending absolute surrender. (SABCL 20: 80)
(CWSA 23: 87)

VIII 3. b. 'It depends on what is meant by absolute surrender
the experience oI it in some part oI the being or the Iact oI it in all
parts oI the being. The Iormer may easily come at any time; it is
the latter that takes time to complete. (CWSA 29: 73)

VIII 4. 'But in the later transitional stage oI this movement our
personal and necessarily ignorant eIIort more and more dwindles
and a higher Nature acts; the eternal Shakti descends into this
limited Iorm oI mortality and progressively possesses and
transmutes it. (SABCL 20: 79) (CWSA 23: 86)

VIII 5. a. 'In the second stage oI the Yoga, transitional between
the human and the divine working, there will supervene an
increasing puriIied and vigilant passivity, a more and more
luminous divine response to the Divine Force, but not to any other;
and there will be as a result the growing inrush oI a great and
conscious miraculous working Irom above. (SABCL 20: 80-81)
(CWSA 23: 87)

VIII 5.b. 'The personal eIIort has to be transIormed
progressively into a movement oI the Divine Force. II you Ieel
conscious oI the Divine Force, then call it in more and more to
govern your eIIort, to take it up, to transIorm it into something not
yours, but the Mother`s. There will be a sort oI transIer, a taking up
oI the Iorces at work in the personal adhara transIer not
suddenly complete but progressive.
VIII The Process of Surrender in the Integral Yoga

&%

But the psychic poise is necessary: the discrimination must
develop which sees accurately what is the Divine Force, what is
the element oI personal eIIort, and what is brought in as a mixture
Irom the lower cosmic Iorces. And until the transIer is complete,
which always takes time, there must always be as a personal
contribution, a constant consent to the true Force, a constant
rejection oI any lower mixturethat is very important. (CWSA
29: 84-85)

VIII 5. c. 'In the course oI your selI-oIIering, you start uniIying
your being around what has taken the Iirst decisionthe central
psychic will. All the jarring elements oI your nature have to be
harmonised, they have to be taken up one aIter another and uniIied
with the central being. You may oIIer yourselI to the Divine with a
spontaneous movement, but it is not possible to give yourselI
eIIectively without this uniIication. The more you are uniIied, the
more you are able to realise selI-giving. And once the selI-giving is
complete, consecration Iollows: it is the crown oI the whole
process oI realisation, the last step oI the gradation, aIter which
there is no more trouble and everything runs smoothly. (CWM 3:
126)

VIII 6. a. 'In the last period there is no eIIort at all, no set
method, no Iixed sadhana; the place oI endeavour and tapasya will
be taken by a natural, simple, powerIul and happy disclosing oI the
Ilower oI the Divine out oI the bud oI a puriIied and perIected
terrestrial nature. These are the natural successions oI the action oI
the Yoga. (SABCL 20: 81) (CWSA 23: 87)

VIII The Process of Surrender in the Integral Yoga

&&

VIII - 6. b. 'Yes, oI course you are right. The process oI surrender
is itselI a Tapasya. Not only so, but in Iact a double process oI
Tapasya and increasing surrender persists Ior a long time even
when the surrender has Iairly well begun. But a time comes when
one Ieels the Presence and the Force constantly and more and more
Ieels that that is doing everythingso that the worst diIIiculties
cannot disturb this sense and personal eIIort is no longer necessary,
hardly even possible. That is the sign oI the Iull surrender oI the
nature into the hands oI the Divine. . For most it is necessary to
grow through Tapasya into surrender. (SABCL 23: 595-596)
(CWSA 29: 82)

VIII - 6. c. 'Then indeed yours is a glorious walk towards
transIormation, Ior you no longer go Irom darkness to knowledge
but Irom knowledge to knowledge, light to light, happiness to
happiness. (CWM 3: 127) 1930-1931

VIII 7. 'These movements are indeed not always or absolutely
arranged in a strict succession to each other. The second stage
begins in part beIore the Iirst is completed; the Iirst continues in
part until the second is perIected; the last divine working can
maniIest Irom time to time as a promise beIore it is Iinally settled
and normal to the nature. Always too there is something higher and
greater than the individual which leads him even in his personal
labour and endeavour. (SABCL 20: 81) (CWSA 23: 87)

VIII 8. 'OIten he may become, and remain Ior a time, wholly
conscious, even in parts oI his being permanently conscious, oI this
greater leading behind the veil, and that may happen long beIore
his whole nature has been puriIied in all its parts Irom the lower
VIII The Process of Surrender in the Integral Yoga

&'

indirect control. Even, he may be thus conscious Irom the
beginning; his mind and heart, iI not his other members, may
respond to that seizing and penetrating guidance with a certain
initial completeness Irom the very Iirst steps oI the Yoga. But it is
the constant and complete and uniIorm action oI the great direct
control that more and more distinguishes the transitional stage as it
proceeds and draws to its close. This predominance oI a greater
diviner leading, not personal to ourselves, indicates the nature`s
increasing ripeness Ior a total spiritual transIormation. It is the
unmistakable sign that the selI-consecration has not only been
accepted in principle but is IulIilled in act and power. The Supreme
has laid his luminous hand upon a chosen human vessel oI his
miraculous Light and Power and Ananda. (SABCL 20: 81)
(CWSA 23: 87-88)
















VIII The Process of Surrender in the Integral Yoga

&(

IX The Attitude of Surrender

IX 1. 'Once you have taken up the Yoga, whatever you do must
be done in a spirit oI complete surrender. This must be your
attitude,'I aspire, I try to cure my imperIections, I do my best,
but Ior the result I put myselI entirely into the hands oI the
Divine. (CWM 3: 97)

IX 2. 'When one takes sincerely to surrender, nothing must be
concealed that is oI any importance Ior the liIe oI the sadhana.
ConIession helps to purge the consciousness oI hampering
elements and it clears the inner air and makes Ior a closer and more
intimate and eIIective relation between the Guru and the disciple.
(CWSA 29: 193)

IX 3. 'The essence oI surrender is not to ask the Mother beIore
doing anything but to accept whole-heartedly the inIluence and
the guidance when the joy and peace come down, to accept them
without question or cavil and let them grow; when the Force is Ielt
at work, to let it without opposition, when the Knowledge is given,
to receive and Iollow it, when the Will is revealed, to make oneselI
its instrument.
The Divine can lead, he does not drive. There is an internal
Ireedom permitted to every mental being called `man' to assent or
not to assent to the Divine leading: how else can any real spiritual
evolution be done? (SABCL 23: 597-598) (CWSA 29: 67-68)

IX 4. 'The core oI the inner surrender is trust and conIidence in
the Divine. One takes the attitude: 'I want the Divine and nothing
else. I want to give myselI entirely to him and since my soul wants

&)

that, it cannot be but that I shall meet and realise him. I ask nothing
but that and his action in me to bring me to him, his action secret
or open, veiled or maniIest. I do not insist on my own time and
way; let him do all in his own time and way; I shall believe in him,
accept his will, aspire steadily Ior his light and presence and joy,
go through all diIIiculties and delays, relying on him and never
giving up. Let my mind be quiet and trust him and let him open it
to his light; let my vital be quiet and turn to him alone and let him
open it to his calm and joy. All Ior him and myselI Ior him.
Whatever happens, I will keep to this aspiration and selI-giving
and go on in perIect reliance that it will be done. (SABCL 23:
587) (CWSA 29: 70-71)


















IX The Attitude of Surrender

'*

X Surrender and Grace

X 1. 'There are two powers that alone can eIIect in their
conjunction the great and diIIicult thing which is the aim oI our
endeavour, a Iixed and unIailing aspiration that calls Irom below
and a supreme Grace Irom above that answers.
But the supreme Grace will act only in the conditions oI the Light
and the Truth; it will not act in conditions laid upon it by the
Falsehood and the Ignorance. For iI it were to yield to the demands
oI the Falsehood, it would deIeat its own purpose.
These are the conditions oI the Light and Truth, the sole conditions
under which the highest Force will descend; and it is only the very
highest supramental Force descending Irom above and opening
Irom below that can victoriously handle the physical Nature and
annihilate its diIIiculties . . . There must be a total and sincere
surrender; there must be an exclusive selI-opening to the divine
Power; there must be a constant and integral choice oI the Truth
that is descending, a constant and integral rejection oI the
Ialsehood oI the mental, vital and physical Powers and
Appearances that still rule the earth-Nature.
The surrender must be total and seize all the parts oI the being. It is
not enough that the psychic should respond and the higher mental
accept or even the inner vital submit and the inner physical
consciousness Ieel the inIluence. There must be in no part oI the
being, even the most external, anything that makes a reserve,
anything that hides behind doubts, conIusions and subterIuges,
anything that revolts or reIuses. II part oI the being surrenders, but
another part reserves itselI, Iollows its own way or makes its own
conditions, then each time that that happens, you are yourselI

'!

pushing the divine Grace away Irom you. (SABCL 25: 1-2)
(CWSA 32: 3)

X 2. 'II behind your devotion and surrender you make a cover
Ior your desires, egoistic demands and vital insistences, iI you put
these things in place oI the true aspiration or mix them with it and
try to impose them on the Divine Shakti, then it is idle to invoke
the divine Grace to transIorm you.
II you open yourselI on one side or in one part to the Truth and on
another side are constantly opening the gates to hostile Iorces, it is
vain to expect that the divine Grace will abide with you. You must
keep the temple clean iI you wish to instal there the living
Presence.
II each time the Power intervenes and brings in the Truth, you turn
your back on it and call in again the Ialsehood that has been
expelled, it is not the divine Grace that you must blame Ior Iailing
you, but the Ialsity oI your own will and the imperIection oI your
own surrender.
II you call Ior the Truth and yet something in you chooses what is
Ialse, ignorant and undivine or even simply is unwilling to reject it
altogether, then always you will be open to attack and the Grace
will recede Irom you. Detect Iirst what is Ialse or obscure in you
and persistently reject it, then alone can you rightly call Ior the
divine Power to transIorm you. (SABCL 25: 2-3) (CWSA 32: 3-
4)

X 3. 'The complete consecration is undoubtedly not an easy
matter, and it might take an almost indeIinitely long time iI you
had to do it all by yourselI, by your own independent eIIort. But
when the Divine`s Grace is with you it is not exactly like that.
X Surrender and Grace

'"

With a little push Irom the Divine now and then, a little push in
this direction and in that, the work becomes comparatively quite
easy. OI course the length oI time depends on each individual, but
it can be very much shortened iI you make a really Iirm resolve.
Resolution is the one thing requiredresolution is the master-key.
(CWM 3: 127) 1930-31

X 4. 'OI course, iI one is in a state oI complete surrender and
gives oneselI entirely, iI one simply oIIers oneselI to the Grace and
lets it do what it likes, that is very good. But aIter that one must not
question what it does! One must not say to it, 'Oh! I did that with
the idea oI having this, Ior iI one really has the idea oI obtaining
something, it is better to Iormulate it in all sincerity, simply, just as
one sees it. AIterwards, it is Ior the Grace to choose iI it will do it
or not; but in any case, one will have Iormulated clearly what one
wanted. And there is no harm in that.
Where it becomes bad is when the request is not granted and one
revolts. Then naturally it becomes bad. It is at that moment one
must understand that the desire one has, or the aspiration, may not
have been very enlightened and that perhaps one has asked Ior
something which was not exactly what was good Ior one. Then at
that moment one must be wise and say simply, 'Well, let Thy Will
be done. But so long as one has an inner perception and an inner
preIerence, there is no harm in Iormulating it. It is a very natural
movement.
For example, iI one has been Ioolish or has made a mistake and
one truly, sincerely wishes never to do it again, well, I don`t see
any harm in asking Ior it. And in Iact, iI one asks Ior it with
sincerity, a true inner sincerity, there is a great chance that it will
be granted.
X Surrender and Grace

'#

You must not think that the Divine likes to contradict you. He is
not at all keen on doing it! He can see better than you what is
really good Ior you; but it is only when it is absolutely
indispensable that He opposes your aspiration. Otherwise He is
always ready to give what you ask. (CWM 8: 254-255)

























X Surrender and Grace

'$

XI Surrender can bring following results in Yoga.

'Even a Ialtering Iaith and a slow and partial surrender have their
Iorce and their result, otherwise only the rare Iew could do sadhana
at all. (CWSA 29: 96)

XI 1. Q: 'What is the sign to indicate that a sadhak`s
determination to surrender to the Divine is having practical eIIect
in his liIe? .
'He Sri Aurobindo} says that the determination to surrender
brings certain results. The Iirst result is simply to be obedient
without questioning, and the second is to have the power oI
rejecting all inIluences except that oI the Divine. These are great
results. When one has attained these, one is already quite
advanced. (CWM 6: 129)

XI 2. 'Naturally, iI one`s surrender is truly sincere and there is
this constant attitude in the being, this total selI-giving to the
Divine, 'Thy Will be done, in this way, one can, without
knowing, without understanding, instinctively, choose the thing
that should be done and reject the one that should not, but this
becomes an instinct, a sort oI automatic thing, iI your surrender is
perIect. And that is the very advantage oI surrender, Ior you can do
the right thing in the right way automatically, beIore having the
knowledge. (CWM 6: 132)

XI 3. a. 'And the surest means to discernment discrimination}
is a conscious and willing surrender, as complete as possible, to the
divine Will and Guidance. Then there is no risk oI making a
mistake and oI taking Ialse lights Ior true ones. (CWM 8: 3)

'%


XI 3. b. 'In a total surrender to the Divine there can be no longer
errors or Iaults or any insuIIiciency since it is what the Divine has
willed that he does and it is done as the Divine has willed it. 3
December 1954 (CWM 14: 111)

XI 3. c. 'II you are truly surrendered to the Divine, in the right
manner and totally, then at every moment you will be what you
ought to be, you will do what you ought to do, you will know what
you ought to know. But Ior that you should have transcended all
the limitations oI the ego. (CWM 14: 107)

XI 4. 'There are others, Ior instance, like wanting to surrender
completely to the Divine, to give oneselI up totally to His Will and
His Guidance, and at the same time, when the experience comes
a common experience on the path when one sincerely tries to give
oneselI up to the Divinethe Ieeling that one is nothing, that one
can do nothing, that one doesn`t even exist outside the Divine; that
is to say, iI He were not there, one would not exist and could not
do anything, one would not be anything at all.... This experience
naturally comes as a help on the path oI total selI-giving, but there
is a part oI the being which, when the experience comes, rises up
in a terrible revolt and says, 'But, excuse me! I insist on existing, I
insist on being something, I insist on doing things myselI, I want to
have a personality. And naturally, the second one undoes all that
the Iirst had done. (CWM 8: 284)

XI 5. 'When man becomes a little wiser, he will not complain
about anything and will take the things the Divine sends him as a
maniIestation oI His all-compassionate Grace. The more
XI Surrender can bring following results in Yoga

'&

surrendered we are, the more we shall understand. The more
grateIul we are, the happier we shall be. (CWM 10: 342)

XI 6. a. 'When one is perIectly surrendered to the Divine one is
perIectly Iree, and this is the absolute condition Ior Ireedom, to
belong to the Divine alone; you are Iree Irom the whole world
because you belong only to Him. And this surrender is the supreme
liberation, you are also Iree Irom your little personal ego and oI all
things this is the most diIIicultand the happiest too, the only
thing that can give you a constant peace, an uninterrupted joy and
the Ieeling oI an inIinite Ireedom Irom all that aIIlicts you, dwarIs,
diminishes, impoverishes you, and Irom all that can create the least
anxiety in you, the least Iear. You are no longer aIraid oI anything,
you no longer Iear anything, you are the supreme master oI your
destiny because it is the Divine who wills in you and guides
everything. But this does not happen overnight: a little time and a
great deal oI ardour in the will, not Iearing to make any eIIort and
not losing heart when one doesn`t succeed, knowing that the
victory is certain and that one must last out until it comes. There
you are. (CWM 7: 242)

XI - 6. b. 'It is certain that Ior someone who has desires, when his
desires are not satisIied, it is a sign that the Divine Grace is with
him and wants, through experience, to make him progress rapidly,
by teaching him that a willing and spontaneous surrender to the
Divine Will is a much surer way to be happy in peace and light
than the satisIaction oI any desire. 17 October 1969 (CWM 10:
261)

XI Surrender can bring following results in Yoga

''

XI - 6. c. 'In the integrality and absoluteness oI bhakti and
surrender, we Iind the essential condition oI perIect peace leading
to uninterrupted bliss. 2 December 1954 (CWM 14: 108)

XI - 6. d. 'As Ior peace one can gain it by an entire reliance on the
Divine and surrender to the Divine Will. (CWSA 28: 520)

XI - 6. e. 'The true repose rest} is that oI a perIect surrender to
the Divine. (CWM 14: 108)

XI 7. 'Actually, everything in the world is a question oI
equilibrium or disequilibrium, oI harmony or disorder. Vibrations
oI harmony attract and encourage harmonious events; vibrations oI
disequilibrium create, as it were, a disequilibrium in circumstances
(illnesses, accidents, etc.). This may be collective or individual, but
the principle is the same and so is the remedy: to cultivate in
oneselI order and harmony, peace and equilibrium by surrendering
unreservedly to the Divine Will. 7 July 1965 (CWM 16: 322)

XI 8. a. 'None can reach heaven who has not passed through
hell. (Savitri, Book II, Canto 8.)
The quotation means that in order to reach the divine regions one
must, while on earth, pass through the vital, which in some oI its
parts is a veritable hell. But those who have surrendered to the
Divine and been adopted by Him are surrounded by the divine
protection and Ior them the passage is not diIIicult. 29 November
1968 (CWM 16: 388-389)


XI Surrender can bring following results in Yoga

'(

XI - 8. b. In total, complete and unconditional surrender} So, you
Ieel above the surrounding human reactionsnot only above them
but protected Irom them by the wall oI the Divine`s Grace.
(CWM 15: 398)

XI - 8. c. 'Surrender to the Divine is the best emotional
protection. (CWM 14: 108)

XI 9. 'Surrender will not diminish, but increase; it will not lessen
or weaken or destroy your personality, it will IortiIy strengthen}
and aggrandize enhance} it. (CWM 3: 114)

XI 9. a. This is an explanation given by Sri Aurobindo}
oI the . passage Irom Conversations by The Mother.
'It means in the inner sense only no outer greatness is
meant. All submission is regarded by the ego as lowering and
lessening itselI, but really submission to the Divine increases and
greatens the being, that is what is meant. (SABCL 23: 586)

XI 10. 'True surrender enlarges you; it increases your capacity; it
gives you a greater measure in quality and in quantity which you
could not have had by yourselI. This new greater measure oI
quality and quantity is diIIerent Irom anything you could attain
beIore: you enter into another world, into a wideness which you
could not have entered iI you did not surrender. It is as when a
drop oI water Ialls into the sea; iI it still kept there its separate
identity, it would remain a little drop oI water and nothing more, a
little drop crushed by all the immensity around, because it has not
surrendered. But, surrendering, it unites with the sea and
XI Surrender can bring following results in Yoga

')

participates in the nature and power and vastness oI the whole
sea. (CWM 3: 115)

XI 11. 'II a small human mind stands in Iront oI the Divine
Universal Mind and clings to its separateness, it will remain what it
is, a small bounded thing, incapable oI knowing the nature oI the
higher reality or even oI coming in contact with it. The two
continue to stand apart and are, qualitatively as well as
quantitatively, quite diIIerent Irom each other. But iI the little
human mind surrenders, it will be merged in the Divine Universal
Mind; it will be one in quality and quantity with it; losing nothing
but its own limitations and deIormations, it will receive Irom it its
vastness and luminous clearness. The small existence will change
its nature; it will put on the nature oI the greater truth to which it
surrenders. But iI it resists and Iights, iI it revolts against the
Universal Mind, then a conIlict and pressure are inevitable in
which what is weak and small cannot Iail to be drawn into that
power and immensity. II it does not surrender, its only other
possible Iate is absorption and extinction. A human being, who
comes into contact with the Divine Mind and surrenders, will Iind
that his own mind begins at once to be puriIied oI its obscurities
and to share in the power and the knowledge oI the Divine
Universal Mind. II he stands in Iront, but separated, without any
contact, he will remain what he is, a little drop oI water in the
measureless vastness. II he revolts, he will lose his mind; its
powers will diminish and disappear. And what is true oI the mind
is true oI all the other parts oI the nature. It is as when you Iight
against one who is too strong Ior youa broken head is all you
gain. How can you Iight something that is a million times stronger?
Each time you revolt, you get a knock, and each blow takes away a
XI Surrender can bring following results in Yoga

(*

portion oI your strength, as when one who engages in a pugilistic
encounter with a Iar superior rival receives blow aIter blow and
each blow makes him weaker and weaker till he is knocked out.
There is no necessity oI a willed intervention, the action is
automatic.
Nothing else can happen iI you dash yourselI in revolt against the
Immensity. As long as you remain in your corner and Iollow the
course oI the ordinary liIe, you are not touched or hurt; but once
you come in contact with the Divine, there are only two ways open
to you. You surrender and merge in it, and your surrender enlarges
and gloriIies you; or you revolt and all your possibilities are
destroyed and your powers ebb away and are drawn Irom you into
That which you oppose. (CWM 3: 115-116)

XI 12. a. 'The Buddha said or has been made to say that when
one is Iree Irom all desire, one necessarily enters into inIinite bliss.
This bliss may be a little dry and anyway it does not seem to me to
be the quickest way. II at the outset one were to seize the problem
bodily, jump into it with courage and determination and, instead oI
undertaking a long, arduous, painIul, disappointing hunt aIter
desires, one gives oneselI simply, totally, unconditionally, iI one
surrenders to the Supreme Reality, to the Supreme Will, to the
Supreme Being, putting oneselI entirely in His hands, in an
upsurge oI the whole being and all the elements oI the being,
without calculating, that would be the swiItest and the most radical
way to get rid oI the ego. People will say that it is diIIicult to do it,
but at least a warmth is there, an ardour, an enthusiasm, a light, a
beauty, an ardent and creative liIe. It is true that without desire
nothing much remains to sustain the ego .. (CWM 3: 268)

XI Surrender can bring following results in Yoga

(!

XI - 12. b. 'The selI-abnegation oI the ego in the Divine is its selI-
IulIilment; its ego`s} surrender to that which transcends it is its
liberation Irom bonds and limits and its perIect Ireedom. (SABCL
20: 53) (CWSA 23: 60)

XI 13. 'For those who want always to progress, there are three
major ways oI progressing: (1) To widen the Iield oI one`s
consciousness. (2) To understand ever better and more completely
what one knows. (3) To Iind the Divine and surrender more and
more to his Will.
In other words, this means: (1) To constantly enrich the
possibilities oI the instrument. (2) To ceaselessly perIect the
Iunctioning oI this instrument. (3) To make this instrument
increasingly receptive and obedient to the Divine.
To learn to understand and do more and more things. To puriIy
oneselI oI all that prevents one Irom being totally surrendered to
the Divine. To make one`s consciousness more and more receptive
to the Divine InIluence. One could say: to widen oneselI more and
more, to deepen oneselI more and more, to surrender oneselI more
and more completely. 15 February 1972 (CWM 16: 435-436)

XI 14. a. 'What is surrender? It means that one gives oneselI
entirely to the Divine.
Yes, and then what happens? II you give yourselI entirely to the
Divine, it is He who does the Yoga, it is no longer you; hence this
is not very diIIicult; while iI you do tapasya, it is you yourselI who
do the yoga and you carry its whole responsibilityit is there the
danger lies. But there are people who preIer to have the whole
responsibility, with its dangers, because they have a very
independent spirit. They are not perhaps in a great hurry iI they
XI Surrender can bring following results in Yoga

("

need several lives to succeed, it does not matter to them. But there
are others who want to go quicker and be more sure oI reaching the
goal; well, these give over the whole responsibility to the Divine.
(CWM 4: 72)

XI - 14. b. 'The path is long, but selI-surrender makes it short; the
way is diIIicult, but perIect trust makes it easy. (CWM 14: 108)

XI - 14. c. 'And there comes a time when one Ieels a kind oI inner
guidance, something which is leading one very perceptibly in all
that one does. But then, Ior the guidance to have its maximum
power, one must naturally add to it a conscious surrender: one
must be sincerely determined to Iollow the indication given by the
higher Iorce. II one does that, then... one saves years oI study, one
can seize the result extremely rapidly. II one also does that, the
result comes very rapidly. But Ior that, it must be done with
sincerity and... a kind oI inner spontaneity. II one wants to try
without this surrender, one may succeedas one can also succeed
in developing one`s personal will and making it into a very
considerable powerbut that takes a very long time and one meets
many obstacles and the result is very precarious; one must be very
persistent, obstinate, persevering, and one is sure to succeed, but
only aIter a great labour. Make your surrender with a sincere,
complete selI-giving, and you will go ahead at Iull speed, you will
go much Iaster but you must not do this calculatingly, Ior that
spoils everything! (CWM 9: 359-360)

XI - 14. d. 'Quite possible and practical and a very rapturous thing
|is absolute surrender to the Divine| as anyone who has done it can
XI Surrender can bring following results in Yoga

(#

tell you. It is also the easiest and most powerIul way oI 'getting the
Divine. So it is the best policy also. (CWSA 29: 21)

XI 15. 'Surrender is the main power oI the yoga, but the
surrender is bound to be progressive; a complete surrender is not
possible in the beginning, but only a will in the being Ior that
completeness,in Iact it takes time; yet it is only when the
surrender is complete that the Iull Ilood oI the sadhana is possible.
Till then there must be the personal eIIort with an increasing
reality oI surrender. One calls in the power oI the Divine Shakti
and once that begins to come into the being, it at Iirst supports the
personal endeavour, then progressively takes up the whole action,
although the consent oI the sadhak continues to be always
necessary. (SABCL 23: 525) (CWSA 29: 207-208)
XI 16. 'II someone can truly know what surrender is and total
trust, then it is inIinitely easier, than attains by his own eIIort}
three-Iourths oI the worry and diIIiculties are over. (CWM 7:
246)

XI 17. 'Tapasya has predominated in your sadhana, Ior you have
a Iervour and active energy which predisposes you to that. No way
is entirely easy, and in that oI surrender the diIIiculty is to make a
true and complete surrender. Once it is made, it certainly makes
things easiernot that things are all done in no time or that there
are no diIIiculties, but there is an assurance, a support, an absence
oI tension which gives the consciousness rest as well as strength
and Ireedom Irom the worst Iorms oI resistance. (SABCL 23:
595) (CWSA 29: 81-82)

XI Surrender can bring following results in Yoga

($

XI 18. '. so long as the divine consciousness in me or in one
whom I have chosen as my Guru does not tell me 'This is to be
done, 'This is not to be done, I am indiIIerent to what others
may tell me. For I think that the divine presence in the one in
whom I have put my trust is capable oI knowing what is good and
what is bad, what is to be done and what is not to be done. And
that is the best way oI being Iree. Let your surrender to the Divine
be entire and you will become completely Iree. The only way oI
being truly Iree is to make your surrender to the Divine entire,
without reservation, because then all that binds you, ties you down,
chains you, Ialls away naturally Irom you and has no longer any
importance. II someone comes and blames you, you may say, 'On
what authority does he blame me, does he know the supreme
will? And the same thing when you are congratulated. This is not
to advise you not to proIit by what comes to you Irom othersI
have learnt throughout my liIe that even a little child can give you
a lesson. Not that he is less ignorant than you but he is like a mirror
which reIlects the image oI what you are; he may tell you
something which is not true but also may show you something that
you did not know. You can hence proIit a great deal by it iI you
receive the lesson without any undesirable reaction. (CWM 4: 91)

XI 19. 'All can be done by the Divine,the heart and nature
puriIied, the inner consciousness awakened, the veils removed,iI
one gives oneselI to the Divine with trust and conIidence and even
iI one cannot do so Iully at once, yet the more one does so, the
more the inner help and guidance come and the experience oI the
Divine grows within. II the questioning mind becomes less active
and humility and the will to surrender grow in you, this ought to be
XI Surrender can bring following results in Yoga

(%

perIectly possible. No other strength and tapasya are then needed,
but this alone. (SABCL 23: 588) (CWSA 29: 69)

XI 20. a. 'II says the divine Teacher 'even a man oI very evil
conduct turns to me with a sole and entire love, he must be
regarded as a saint, Ior the settled will oI endeavour in him is a
right and complete will. SwiItly he becomes a soul oI
righteousness and obtains eternal peace. In other words a will oI
entire selI-giving opens wide all the gates oI the spirit and brings in
response an entire descent and selI-giving oI the Godhead to the
human being, and that at once reshapes and assimilates everything
in us to the law oI the divine existence by a rapid transIormation oI
the lower into the spiritual nature. The will oI selI-giving Iorces
away by its power the veil between God and man; it annuls every
error and annihilates every obstacle. (SABCL 13: 320) (CWSA
19: 334-335)

XI 20. b. 'II man surrenders totally to the Divine, he identiIies
himselI with the Divine. PerIect surrender: the indispensable
condition Ior identiIication. 13 May 1954 (CWM 14: 108)

XI 20. c. 'The principle oI Integral Yoga} in view is a selI-
surrender, a giving up oI the human being into the being,
consciousness, power, delight oI the Divine, a union or
communion at all the points oI meeting in the soul oI man, the
mental being, by which the Divine himselI, directly and without
veil master and possessor oI the instrument, shall by the light oI his
presence and guidance perIect the human being in all the Iorces oI
the Nature Ior a divine living. (SABCL 20: 586-587) (CWSA 23:
613)
XI Surrender can bring following results in Yoga

(&


XI 20. d. 'It is because oI the spiritual Person, the Divinity in the
individual, that perIection or liberationsalvation, as it is called in
the Westhas to be individual and not collective; Ior whatever
perIection oI the collectivity is to be sought aIter, can come only
by the perIection oI the individuals who constitute it. It is because
the individual is That, Divine} that to Iind himselI is his great
necessity. In his complete surrender and selI-giving to the Supreme
it is he who Iinds his perIect selI-Iinding in a perIect selI-oIIering.
(SABCL 19: 696) (CWSA 22: 723)

XI 21. 'For this penetration into the luminous crypt oI the soul
one has to get through all the intervening vital stuII to the psychic
centre within us, however long, tedious or diIIicult may be the
process. The method oI detachment Irom the insistence oI all
mental and vital and physical claims and calls and impulsions, a
concentration in the heart, austerity, selI-puriIication and rejection
oI the old mind movements and liIe movements, rejection oI the
ego oI desire, rejection oI Ialse needs and Ialse habits, are all
useIul aids to this diIIicult passage: but the strongest, most central
way is to Iound all such or other methods on a selI-oIIering and
surrender oI ourselves and oI our parts oI nature to the Divine
Being, the Ishwara. (SABCL 19: 907) (CWSA 22: 940)

XI 22. 'It is true that there is something in us, not in the ego but
in the selI and inmost being, that surpasses cosmic Nature and
belongs to the Transcendence. But this too Iinds itselI independent
oI Nature only by dependence on a higher Reality; it is through
selI-giving or surrender oI soul and nature to the Divine Being that
we can attain to our highest selI and supreme Reality, Ior it is the
XI Surrender can bring following results in Yoga

('

Divine Being who is that highest selI and that supreme Reality, and
we are selI-existent and eternal only in his eternity and by his selI-
existence. This dependence is not contradictory oI the Identity, but
is itselI the door to the realisation oI the Identity,so that here
again we meet that phenomenon oI duality expressing unity,
proceeding Irom unity and opening back into unity, which is the
constant secret and Iundamental operation oI the universe.
(SABCL 19: 358) (CWSA 21: 373-374)

XI 23. 'There are many Iields oI consciousness, zones oI
consciousness superimposed upon one another; and in each one oI
these Iields oI consciousness or action there is a determinism
which seems absolute. But the intervention in one Iield oI even the
next higher Iield, like the intervention oI the vital in the physical,
introduces the determinism oI the vital in that oI the physical, and
necessarily transIorms the determinism oI the physical.
And iI through aspiration, the inner will, selI-giving and true
surrender one can enter into contact with the higher regions or
even the supreme region, Irom up there the supreme determinism
will come down and transIorm all the intermediate determinisms
and it will be able to bring about in a so-to-say almost inexistent
span oI time what would have otherwise taken either years or lives
to be accomplished. But this is the only way. (CWM 7: 361)

XI 24. a. 'II there is no surrender, there can be no transIormation
oI the whole being. (SABCL 23: 586) (CWSA 29: 79)

XI 24. b. 'Even when centrally Iitted, prepared, open already, it
will still be long beIore all our movements oI mind, liIe and body,
all the multiple and conIlicting members and elements oI our
XI Surrender can bring following results in Yoga

((

personality consent or, consenting, are able to bear the diIIicult and
exacting process oI the transIormation. And hardest oI all, even iI
all in us is willing, is the struggle we shall have to carry through
against the universal Iorces attached to the present unstable
creation when we seek to make the Iinal supramental conversion
and reversal oI consciousness by which the Divine Truth must be
established in us in its plenitude and not merely what they would
more readily permit, an illumined Ignorance. It is Ior this that a
surrender and submission to That which is beyond us enabling the
Iull and Iree working oI its Power is indispensable. (SABCL 20:
124) (CWSA 23: 132-133)

XI 24. c. 'What we want is the transIormation oI the physical
consciousness, not its rejection. And so, in this case, what Sri
Aurobindo has recommended as the most direct and most total way
is surrender to the Divine a surrender made more and more
integral, progressively, comprising the physical consciousness and
physical activities. And iI one succeeds in this, then the physical,
instead oI being an obstacle, becomes a help. (CWM 8: 300)

XI 25. 'I can assure you that to go inward and to receive the
Iorce is more helpIul than to throw oneselI into an agitated action.
Certainly 'tamas is not good, but it is only through surrender to
the Divine Consciousness that tamas can be changed. With love
and blessings. 6 May 1966 (CWM 17: 283)

XI 26. a. 'These things can only be put under our Ieet by
complete knowledge, the knowledge that sees God in all things and
thus comes to understand the relations oI things to each other in his
great cosmic purpose, by complete Bhakti which accepts all things
XI Surrender can bring following results in Yoga

()

with joy, thus abolishing the dvandvas,because they come
Irom the Beloved or by perIect action oIIering up all works as a
sacriIice to God with an entire indiIIerence to these dualities oI
success, Iailure, honour, disgrace, etc., which usually pursue all
Karma. Such knowledge, such Bhakti, such Karma come
inevitably as the eventual result oI the sankalpa oI selI-surrender
and the practice oI it. (SABCL 16: 422-423) (CWSA 13: 83)

XI 27. a. 'This, in short, is the demand made on us, that we
should turn our whole liIe into a conscious sacriIice. . It is clear
that a conception oI this kind and its eIIective practice must carry
in them three results that are oI a central importance Ior our
spiritual ideal. (SABCL 20: 102-103) (CWSA 23: 111-112)

XI 27. b. 'It is evident, to begin with, that, even iI such a
discipline is begun without devotion, it leads straight and
inevitably towards the highest devotion possible; Ior it must
deepen naturally into the completest adoration imaginable, the
most proIound God-love. . Now these implications oI the Yoga
oI works are also oI the very essence oI an integral and absolute
Bhakti. . The way oI works turns by this road oI sacriIice to meet
the path oI Devotion; it can be itselI a devotion as complete, as
absorbing, as integral as any the desire oI the heart can ask Ior or
the passion oI the mind can imagine. (SABCL 20: 103-104)
(CWSA 23: 112)

XI 27. c. 'Next, the practice oI this Yoga demands a constant
inward remembrance oI the one central liberating knowledge, and
a constant active externalising oI it in works comes in too to
intensiIy the remembrance. In all is the one SelI, the one Divine is
XI Surrender can bring following results in Yoga

)*

all; all are in the Divine, all are the Divine and there is nothing else
in the universe,this thought or this Iaith is the whole background
until it becomes the whole substance oI the consciousness oI the
worker. A memory, a selI-dynamising meditation oI this kind,
must and does in its end turn into a proIound and uninterrupted
vision. . In its close, iI not long beIore it, this way oI works turns
by communion with the Divine Presence, Will and Force into a
way oI Knowledge more complete and integral than any the mere
creature intelligence can construct or the search oI the intellect can
discover. (SABCL 20: 104-105) (CWSA 23: 112-113)

XI 27. d. 'Lastly, the practice oI this Yoga oI sacriIice compels
us to renounce all the inner supports oI egoism, casting them out oI
our mind and will and actions, and to eliminate its seed, its
presence, its inIluence out oI our nature. All must be done Ior the
Divine; all must be directed towards the Divine. Nothing must be
attempted Ior ourselves as a separate existence; nothing done Ior
others, whether neighbours, Iriends, Iamily, country or mankind or
other creatures merely because they are connected with our
personal liIe and thought and sentiment or because the ego takes a
preIerential interest in their welIare. In this way oI doing and
seeing all works and all liIe become only a daily dynamic worship
and service oI the Divine in the unbounded temple oI his own vast
cosmic existence. (SABCL 20: 105) (CWSA 23: 113)

XI 27. e. 'It has all the power oI a way oI works integral and
absolute, but because oI its law oI sacriIice and selI-giving to the
Divine SelI and Master, it is accompanied on its one side by the
whole power oI the path oI Love and on the other by the whole
power oI the path oI Knowledge. At its end all these three divine
XI Surrender can bring following results in Yoga

)!

Powers work together, Iused, united, completed, perIected by each
other. (SABCL 20: 105-106) (CWSA 23: 114)



























XI Surrender can bring following results in Yoga

)"

XII How can one know whether the surrender is total or
not?

XII - 1. 'Q: How can one know whether the surrender is total or
not?
A :This does not seem to me diIIicult. One may try out a little
exercise. One may say, 'Let me see, I surrender to the Divine, I
want Him to decide everything in my liIe. This is your starting
point. A little exercise: the Divine is going to decide that such and
such a thing happens, precisely something in contradiction with
your Ieeling. Then one tells oneselI, 'Well, and iI the Divine tells
me, You are going to give that up` you will see quite easily,
immediately, what the reaction is; iI it causes a little prick like this,
inside, you may tell yourselI, 'The surrender is not perIectit
pricks, it pricks.... (CWM 4:345-346)

XII - 2. 'For example, you have decided to oIIer your liIe to the
Divine, you take that decision. But all oI a sudden, something
altogether unpleasant, unexpected happens to you and your Iirst
movement is to react and protest. Yet you have made the oIIering,
you have said once Ior all: 'My liIe belongs to the Divine, and
then suddenly an extremely unpleasant incident happens (that can
happen) and there is something in you that reacts, that does not
want it. But here, iI you want to be truly logical with your oIIering,
you must bring Iorward this unpleasant incident, make an oIIering
oI it to the Divine, telling him very sincerely: 'Let Your will be
done; iI You have decided it that way, it will be that way. And
this must be a willing and spontaneous adhesion. So it is very
diIIicult.
)#

Even Ior the smallest thing, something that is not in keeping with
what you expected, what you have worked Ior, instead oI an
opposite reaction coming inspontaneously, irresistibly, you draw
back: 'No, not thatiI you have made a complete surrender, a
total surrender, well, it does not happen like that: you are as quiet,
as peaceIul, as calm in one case as in the other. (CWM 5: 52-53)

XII 3. 'And perhaps you had the notion that it would be better iI
it happened in a certain way, but iI it happens diIIerently, you Iind
that this also is all right. You might have, Ior example, worked
very hard to do a certain thing, so that something might happen,
you might have given much time, much oI your energy, much oI
your will, and all that not Ior your own sake, but, say, Ior the
divine work (that is the oIIering); now suppose that aIter having
taken all this trouble, done all this work, made all these eIIorts, it
all goes just the other way round, it does not succeed. II you are
truly surrendered, you say: 'It is good, it is all good, it is all right; I
did what I could, as well as I could, now it is not my decision, it is
the decision oI the Divine, I accept entirely what He decides. On
the other hand, iI you do not have this deep and spontaneous
surrender, you tell yourselI: 'How is it? I took so much trouble to
do a thing which is not Ior a selIish purpose, which is Ior the
Divine Work, and this is the result, it is not successIul! Ninety-
nine times out oI a hundred, it is like that. True surrender is a very
diIIicult thing. (CWM 5: 53)

XII 4. Q: 'For selI-surrender, should one continue to do what one
ought to do?
A: 'Continue to do what one ought to, what is clearly shown as the
thing that ought to be done, what is to be donewhether one
XII How can one know whether the surrender is total or not?

)$

succeeds or does not succeed, whether the result is what one thinks
or expects or isn`tthat has no importance; one continues.
(CWM 5: 53-54)

XII - 5. 'The transIormation Sri Aurobindo speaks about here is a
reversal oI consciousness: instead oI being egoistical and turned
towards personal satisIactions, the consciousness is turned towards
the Divine in surrender. And he has explained clearly that the
surrender could be partial at Iirstthere are parts which surrender
and parts which don`t. So it is only when the entire being,
integrally, in all its movements, has made its surrender, that it is
irrevocable. It is an irrevocable transIormation oI attitude. (CWM
4: 356)

















XII How can one know whether the surrender is total or not?

)%

XIII Surrender and Offering, Sacrifice, Consecration,

XIII (A) Surrender and Offering

XIII - (A) 1. ' Q: Does not oIIering imply surrender?
A: Not at all. You can give Ior the joy oI giving, without any idea
oI surrender. In a movement oI enthusiasm, when you have
glimpsed something inIinitely higher than yourselI, you can give
yourselI in an elan, but when it is a question oI living that every
minute, oI surrendering oneselI every minute to the higher Will
and when every minute requires this surrender, it is more diIIicult.
But iI by 'oIIering you mean the integral oIIering oI all your
movements, all your activities, that is equivalent to surrender,
without implying it necessarily. But then it is no longer a
movement made in enthusiasm, it is something which has to be
realised in detail. One may say that any movement made in ardour
and enthusiasm is relatively easy (that depends upon the intensity
oI the movement in you), but when it is a question oI realising
one`s aspiration every minute oI one`s liIe and in all its details, the
enthusiasm recedes a little and one Ieels the diIIiculty. 22
February 1951 (CWM 4: 134)

XIII- (A) 2. 'Q: What is the diIIerence between surrender and
oIIering?
A: The two words are almost synonymous: 'I make the oIIering oI
myselI and I surrender myselI, but in the gesture oI oIIering there
is something more active than in the gesture oI surrender. .
between the words 'surrender and 'oIIering there is hardly any
diIIerence. 22 February 1951 (CWM 4: 132)


)&

XIII- (A) 3. 'Q: 'Are not oIIering and surrender to the Divine the
same thing?
A: They are two aspects oI the same thing, but not altogether the
same. One is more active than the other. They do not belong to
quite the same plane oI existence. (CWM 5: 52)

XIII- (A) 4. 'One oIIers to the Divine in order to get rid oI the
illusion oI separationthe very act oI oIIering implies that all
belongs to the Divine. (SABCL 23: 598) (CWSA 29: 104)

XIII- (A) 5. 'Then, the Iirst movement is a selI giving; you tell
yourselI, 'I do not want any longer to belong to myselI, Ior the
sake oI my little personal satisIaction, I wish to belong to this
marvellous thing which one must Iind, must know, must live and
Ior which I aspire. (CWM 4: 68)

XIII- (A) 6. 'The only oIIering that truly enriches is the one
made to the Divine. (CWM 14: 99)

XIII- (A) 7. 'OIIering: the placing oI your entire being, with all
its movements true and Ialse, good and bad, right and wrong,
beIore the Divine Ior transIormation. (CWM 14: 99)

XIII- (A) 8. 'OIIer sincerely to the Divine your obscurities and
you will be able to receive the light. (CWM 14: 99)

XIII (A) 9. 'Whatever is the nature oI the oIIering, when it is
made with sincerity it always contains a spark oI divine light
which can grow into a Iull sun and illuminate the whole being.
XIII (A) Surrender and Offering

)'

You can be sure oI my love, you can be sure oI my help, and our
blessings are always with you. 19 August 1939 (CWM 16: 211)

XIII (A) 10. 'Q: Sweet Mother, You have oIten told us that our
activities should be an oIIering to the Divine. What does this mean
exactly, and how can it be done? For instance, when we play tennis
or basketball, how can we do it as an oIIering? Mental Iormations
are not enough, oI course!
A: It means that what you do should not be done with a personal,
egoistic aim, Ior success, Ior glory, Ior gain, Ior material proIit or
out oI pride, but as a service and an oIIering, in order to become
more conscious oI the divine will and to give yourselI more
entirely to it, until you have made enough progress to know and to
Ieel that it is the Divine who acts in you, His Iorce that impels you
and His will that supports younot just a mental knowledge, but
the sincerity oI a state oI consciousness and the power oI a living
experience. For that to be possible, all egoistic motives and all
egoistic reactions must disappear. 20 November 1961 (CWM 16:
269-270)

XIII (A) 11. 'Q: Sweet Mother, How can one remember at
every moment that whatever one does is Ior You? Particularly
when one wants to make a complete oIIering, how should one
proceed, never Iorgetting that it is Ior the Divine?
A: To achieve that, one must have an obstinate will and a great
patience. But once one has taken the resolution to do it, the divine
help will be there to support and to help. This help is Ielt inwardly
in the heart. Blessings. 9 September 1969 (CWM 16: 398)


XIII (A) Surrender and Offering

)(

XIII (B) Surrender and Sacrifice

XIII- (B) 1. 'In the spiritual sense, however, sacriIice has a
diIIerent meaningit does not so much indicate giving up what is
held dear as an oIIering oI oneselI, one's being, one's mind, heart,
will, body, liIe, actions to the Divine. It has the original sense oI
'making sacred and is used as an equivalent oI the word Yaja.
When the Gita speaks oI the 'sacriIice oI knowledge, it does not
mean a giving up oI anything, but a turning oI the mind towards
the Divine in the search Ior knowledge and an oIIering oI oneselI
through it. It is in this sense, too, that one speaks oI the oIIering or
sacriIice oI works. The Mother has written somewhere that the
spiritual sacriIice is joyIul and not painIul in its nature. On the
spiritual path, very commonly, iI a seeker still Ieels the old ties and
responsibilities strongly he is not asked to sever or leave them, but
to let the call in him grow till all within is ready. Many, indeed,
come away earlier because they Ieel that to cut loose is their only
chance, and these have to go sometimes through a struggle. But the
pain, the struggle, is not the essential character oI this spiritual
selI-oIIering. (SABCL 23: 488) (CWSA 28: 433)

XIII- (B) 2. 'It simply means that your sacriIice is still mental
and has not yet become spiritual in its character. When your vital
being consents to give up its desires and enjoyments, when it oIIers
itselI to the Divine, then the yajna will have begun. What I meant
was that the European sense oI the word is not the sense oI the
word 'yajna or the sense oI 'sacriIice in such phrases as 'the
sacriIice oI works. It doesn't mean that you give up all works Ior
the sake oI the Divine Ior there would be no sacriIice oI works at
all. Similarly the sacriIice oI knowledge doesn't mean that you
))

painIully and resolutely make yourselI a Iool Ior the sake oI the
Lord. SacriIice means an inner oIIering to the Divine and the real
spiritual sacriIice is a very joyIul thing. Otherwise one is only
trying to make oneselI Iit and has not yet begun the real yajna. It is
because your mind is struggling with your vital, the unwilling
animal and asking it to allow itselI to be immolated that there is the
pain and struggle. II the spiritual will (or psychic) were more in the
Iront then you would not be lamenting over the loss oI the ghee
and butter and curds thrown into the Fire or trying to have a last
lick at it beIore casting it. The only diIIiculty would be about
bringing down the gods Iully enough (a progressive labour), not
about lamentation over the ghee. By the way, do you think that the
Mother or myselI or others who have taken up the spiritual liIe had
not enjoyed liIe and that it is thereIore that the Mother was able to
speak oI a joyous sacriIice to the Divine as a true spirit oI spiritual
sacriIice? Or do you think we spent the preliminary stages in
longings Ior the lost Ileshpots oI Egypt and that it was only later on
we Ielt the joy oI the spiritual sacriIice? OI course we did not; we
and many others had no diIIiculty on the score oI giving up
anything anything we thought necessary to give up and no
hankering aIterwards. Your rule is as usual a stiII rule that does not
at all apply generally. (SABCL 23: 489) (CWSA 28: 433-434)

XIII- (B) 3. 'But the true essence oI sacriIice is not selI-
immolation, it is selI-giving; its object not selI-eIIacement, but
selI-IulIilment; its method not selI-mortiIication, but a greater liIe,
not selI mutilation, but a transIormation oI our natural human parts
into divine members, not selI-torture, but a passage Irom a lesser
satisIaction to a greater Ananda. (SABCL 20: 101) (CWSA 23:
109)
XIII (B) Surrender and Sacrifice

!**


XIII- (B) 4. 'But, most oIten, the sacriIice is done unconsciously,
egoistically and without knowledge or acceptance oI the true
meaning oI the great world-rite. It is so that the vast majority oI
earth creatures do it; and, when it is so done, the individual derives
only a mechanical minimum oI natural inevitable proIit, achieves
by it only a slow painIul progress limited and tortured by the
smallness and suIIering oI the ego. Only when the heart, the will
and the mind oI knowledge associate themselves with the law and
gladly Iollow it, can there come the deep joy and the happy
IruitIulness oI divine sacriIice. (SABCL 20: 99) (CWSA 23: 107)

XIII (B) 5. 'SacriIice and selI-giving are indeed a true
principle and a spiritual necessity, Ior we cannot aIIirm our being
rightly without sacriIice or without selI-giving to something larger
than our ego; but that too must be done with a right consciousness
and will Iounded on a true knowledge. (SABCL 18: 629) (CWSA
21: 652)

XIII (B) 6. 'The seeker has to regard all his action as a
sacriIice to the Lord oI works who is the eternal and universal
Being and his own highest SelI and the SelI oI all others and the
supreme all-inhabiting, all-containing, all-governing Godhead in
the universe. The whole action oI Nature is such a sacriIice,
oIIered at Iirst indeed to the divine Powers that move her and move
in her, but these powers are only limited Iorms and names oI the
One and Illimitable. Man ordinarily oIIers his sacriIice openly or
under a disguise to his own ego; his oblation is the Ialse action oI
his own selI-will and ignorance. Or he oIIers his knowledge,
action, aspiration, works oI energy and eIIort to the gods Ior
XIII (B) Surrender and Sacrifice
!*!

partial, temporal and personal aims. The man oI knowledge, the
liberated soul oIIers on the contrary all his activities to the one
eternal Godhead without any attachment to their Iruit or to the
satisIaction oI his lower personal desires. He works Ior God, not
Ior himselI, Ior the universal welIare, Ior the Soul oI the world and
not Ior any particular object which is oI his own personal creation
or Ior any construction oI his mental will or object oI his vital
longings, as a divine agent, not as a principal and separate proIiteer
in the world commerce. And this, it must be noted, is a thing that
cannot be really done except in proportion as the mind arrives at
equality, universality, wide impersonality, and a clear Ireedom
Irom every disguise oI the insistent ego: Ior without these things
the claim to be thus acting is a pretension or an illusion. (SABCL
13: 442-443) (CWSA 19: 457-458)

XIII (B) 7. 'The law oI sacriIice travels in Nature towards its
culmination in this complete and unreserved selI-giving; it
awakens the consciousness oI one common selI in the giver and
the object oI the sacriIice. This culmination oI sacriIice is the
height even oI human love and devotion when it tries to become
divine; Ior there too the highest peak oI love points into a heaven
oI complete mutual selI-giving, its summit is the rapturous Iusing
oI two souls into one. (SABCL 20: 100) (CWSA 23: 108)

XIII (B) 8. 'The one entirely acceptable sacriIice is a last and
highest and uttermost selI-giving,it is that surrender made Iace
to Iace, with devotion and knowledge, Ireely and without any
reserve to One who is at once our immanent SelI, the environing
constituent All, the Supreme Reality beyond this or any
maniIestation and, secretly, all these together, concealed
XIII (B) Surrender and Sacrifice

!*"

everywhere, the immanent Transcendence. (SABCL 20: 102)
(CWSA 23: 110)

XIII (B) 9. 'For to the soul that wholly gives itselI to him, God
also gives himselI altogether. Only the one who oIIers his whole
nature, Iinds the SelI. Only the one who can give everything,
enjoys the Divine All everywhere. Only a supreme selI-
abandonment attains to the Supreme. Only the sublimation by
sacriIice oI all that we are, can enable us to embody the Highest
and live here in the immanent consciousness oI the transcendent
Spirit. (SABCL 20: 102) (CWSA 23: 110)

XIII (B) 10. 'The Divine gives itselI to those who give
themselves without reserve and in all their parts to the Divine. For
them the calm, the light, the power, the bliss, the Ireedom, the
wideness, the heights oI knowledge, the seats oI Ananda. (CWSA
29: 67)













XIII (B) Surrender and Sacrifice
!*#

XIII (C) Surrender and Consecration

XIII (C) - 1. 'Consecration is a process by which one trains the
consciousness to give itselI to the Divine. (SABCL 23: 564)
(CWSA 29: 103)
'SelI-consecration may help one to open to the touch or the touch
may come oI itselI. (SABCL 23: 564) (CWSA 29: 63)

XIII (C) 2. 'Q: What is the exact meaning oI the word
'consecration?
A: Consecration generally has a more mystical sense but this is not
absolute. A total consecration signiIies a total giving oI one`s selI;
. You Ieel a Ilame in the word 'consecration, a Ilame even
greater than in the word 'oIIering. To consecrate oneselI is 'to
give oneselI to an action; hence, in the yogic sense, it is to give
oneselI to some divine work with the idea oI accomplishing the
divine work. (CWM 4: 132)

XIII (C) 3. 'An entire selI-consecration, a complete equality,
an unsparing eIIacement oI the ego, a transIorming deliverance oI
the nature Irom its ignorant modes oI action are the steps by which
the surrender oI all the being and nature to the Divine Will can be
prepared and achieved,a selI-giving true, total and without
reserve. (SABCL 20: 209)

XIII (C) 4. 'Consecration is the consummation, when the Light
has illuminated all the parts oI your being, with a central will
acting on the Ieelings, impulses, thoughts, emotions, activities,
directing them always towards the Divine and when you move no
more Irom darkness to light or Irom Ialsehood to truth or Irom

!*$

misery to happiness but Irom light to more light, Irom truth to
greater truth, Irom happiness to increasing happiness. (CWM 14:
105)

XIII (C) 5. 'The ideal Sadhaka should be able to say in the
Biblical phrase: My zeal Ior the Lord has eaten me up.` Does this
mean an intense, constant and integral aspiration?
Yes, it means that the entire being is absorbed in its consecration.
24 October 1968 (CWM 16: 385)

XIII (C) 6. 'Q: Dear Mother, This subject was given Ior
composition in our French class Develop this thought:
Consecration to the Divine is the secret oI existence; a perpetual
renewal oI Iorce comes Irom communion with the InIinite.
A: My dear little smile, It is very simple, as you will see.
1) The InIinite is the inexhaustible storehouse oI Iorces. The
individual is a battery, a storage cell which runs down aIter use.
Consecration is the wire that connects the individual battery to the
inIinite reserve oI Iorces.
Or
2) The InIinite is the river that Ilows without cease; the individual
is the little pond that dries up slowly in the sun. Consecration is the
canal that connects the river to the pond and prevents the pond
Irom drying up.
With these two images, I think you will understand. Tender love.
28 August 1932 (CWM 16: 61-62)




XIII (C) Surrender and Consecration
!*%

XIV Surrender of the Vital in Yoga.

XIV 1. 'I have always said that the vital is indispensable Ior the
divine or spiritual actionwithout it there can be no complete
expression, no realisation in liIehardly even any realisation in
sadhana. When I speak oI the vital mixture or oI the obstructions,
revolts, etc. oI the vital, it is the unregenerated outer vital Iull oI
desire and ego and the lower passions oI which I speak. I could say
the same against the mind and the physical when they obstruct or
oppose, but precisely because the vital is so powerIul and
indispensable, its obstruction, opposition or reIusal oI cooperation
is most strikingly eIIective and its wrong mixtures are more
dangerous to the sadhana. That is why I have always insisted on
the dangers oI the unregenerated vital and the necessity oI mastery
and puriIication there. It is not because I hold, like the Sannyasis,
the vital and its liIe-power to be a thing to be condemned and
rejected in its very nature. (SABCL 23: 807)

XIV 2. a. 'There is no reason why you should abandon hope oI
success in the yoga. The state oI depression which you now Ieel is
temporary . The suggestions which come to your mind telling
you that you are not Iit and that you must go back to the ordinary
liIe are promptings Irom a hostile source.
What is needed is the conversion and surrender oI the vital part. It
must learn to demand only the highest truth and to Iorego all
insistence on the satisIaction oI its inIerior impulses and desires. It
is this adhesion oI the vital being that brings the Iull satisIaction
and joy oI the whole nature in the spiritual liIe. When that is there,
it will be impossible even to think oI returning to the ordinary
existence. Meanwhile the mental will and the psychic aspiration
!*&

must be your support; iI you insist, the vital will Iinally yield and
be converted and surrender. (SABCL 24: 1701)

XIV 2. b. 'Your mind and psychic being are concentrated on the
spiritual aim and open to the Divine that is why the InIluence
comes down into the head and as Iar as the heart. But the vital
being and nature and the physical consciousness are under the
inIluence oI the lower nature. As long as the vital and physical
being are not surrendered or do not on their own account call Ior
the higher liIe, this struggle is likely to continue.
Surrender everything, reject all other desires or interests, call on
the divine Shakti to open the vital nature and bring down calm,
peace, light, Ananda into all centres. Aspire, await with Iaith and
patience the result. All depends on a complete sincerity and an
integral consecration and aspiration.
The world will trouble you so long as any part oI you belongs to
the world. It is only iI you belong entirely to the Divine that you
can become Iree. (CWSA 29: 76)

XIV 3. a. 'II there is any identiIication with the vital demands or
outcries that necessarily diminishes the surrender Ior the time.
(SABCL 23: 601) (CWSA 29: 74)

XIV 3. b. 'Surrender and demands don`t go together. Evidently
the vital is not aIraid oI thinking illogical and selI-contradictory
nonsense. So long as the vital keeps up its demand, these things
will come. (CWSA 29: 74)

XIV 4. a. 'The ordinary vital is never willing to surrender. The
true inmost vital is diIIerentsurrender to the Divine is as
XIV Surrender of the Vital in Yoga

!*'

necessary to it as to the psychic. (SABCL 23: 601) (CWSA 29:
74)

XIV 4. b. 'The true vital consciousness is one in which the vital
makes Iull surrender, converts itselI into an instrument oI the
Divine, making no demand, insisting on no desire, answering to
the Mother`s Iorce and to no other, calm, unegoistic, giving an
absolute loyalty and obedience, with no personal vanity or
ambition, only willing to be a pure and perIect instrument, desiring
nothing Ior itselI but that the Truth may prevail within itselI and
everywhere and the Divine Victory take place and the Divine
Work be done. (CWSA 28: 186)

XIV 5. 'The surrender oI the vital is always diIIicult, because oI
the unwillingness oI the Iorces oI the universal vital Ignorance. But
that does not mean a Iundamental incapacity. (SABCL 23: 600-
601) (CWSA 29: 74)

XIV 6. 'The signs oI the consecration oI the vital in action are
these among others:
The Ieeling (not merely the idea or the aspiration) that all the liIe
and the work are the Mother's and a strong joy oI the vital nature in
this consecration and surrender. A consequent calm content and
disappearance oI egoistic attachment to the work and its personal
results, but at the same time a great joy in the work and in the use
oI the capacities Ior the divine purpose. (SABCL23 : 670)
(CWSA 29: 233-234)


XIV Surrender of the Vital in Yoga
!*(

XIV 7. a. 'It was Irom your description oI the reaction that I said
there was a vital demand. In the pure psychic or spiritual selI-
giving there are no reactions oI this kind; no despondency or
despair, no saying, 'What have I gained by seeking the Divine?,
no anger, revolt, abhiman, wish to go away such as you describe
here but an absolute conIidence and a persistence in clinging to
the Divine under all conditions. That is what I wanted you to have;
it is the only basis in which one is Iree Irom troubles and reactions
and goes steadily Iorward. (SABCL 23: 601) (CWSA 29: 74-75)

XIV 7. b. 'But are such Ieelings a sign oI the soul's selI-giving?
II there is no vital mixture, how do these things come when I write
to you and as the result oI my writing and trying to show you the
way?
It is the Iirst movement oI this part to revolt when it is shown its
own nature and asked to change. DiIIicult? It is the Iirst principle
oI our sadhana that surrender is the means oI IulIilment and so
long as ego or vital demand and desire are cherished, complete
surrender is impossible the selI-giving is incomplete. We have
never concealed that. It may be diIIicult and it is; but it is the very
principle oI the sadhana. Because it is diIIicult it has to be done
steadily and patiently till the work is complete. (SABCL 23: 601)
(CWSA 29: 75-76)

XIV 7. c. 'You have to go on rejecting the vital mixture every
time it rises. II you are steadIast in rejecting, it will lose more and
more oI its Iorce and Iade out. That means it is an obstinate but
irrational and mechanical survival oI the old movement. That in
Iact is how these things try to survive. It is bound to go iI you do
not give it Iresh liIe. I have no doubt oI it you have only to
XIV Surrender of the Vital in Yoga
!*)

understand it rightly and you can go at once to the right ground.
(SABCL 23: 601)

XIV 8. 'Most oI the sadhaks have similar thoughts |oI hostility
and ingratitude| or had them at one time or another. They rise
Irom the vital ego which either does not want the Divine or wants
It Ior its own purpose and not Ior the Divine's purpose. It gets
Iurious when it is pressed to change or when its desires are not
satisIiedthat is at the root oI all these things. That is why we
insist on surrender in this yogabecause it is only by the surrender
that these things (especially oI the vital ego) can goto accept the
Divine Ior the Divine's sake and Ior no other motive and in the
Divine's way and not in one's own way or on one's own
conditions. (SABCL 23: 602) (CWSA 29: 75)

XIV 9. 'As Ior the oIIering oI the actions to the Divine and the
vital diIIiculty it raises, it is not possible to avoid the diIIiculty
you have to go through and conquer it. For, the moment you make
this attempt, the vital arises with all its restless imperIections to
oppose the change.
However, there are three things you can do to alleviate and shorten
the diIIiculty:
1. Detach yourselI Irom this vital-physicalobserve it as
something not yourselI; reject it, reIuse your consent to its claims
and impulses, but quietly as the witness Purusha whose reIusal oI
sanction must ultimately prevail. This ought not to be diIIicult Ior
you, iI you have already learned to live more and more in the
impersonal SelI.
2. When you are not in this impersonality, still use your mental
will and its power oI assent or reIusal,not with a painIul
XIV Surrender of the Vital in Yoga

!!*

struggle, but in the same way, quietly, denying the claims oI
Desire, till these claims by loss oI sanction and assent lose their
Iorce oI return and become more and more Iaint and external.
3. II you become aware oI the Divine above you or in your heart,
call Ior help, Ior light and power Irom there to change the vital
itselI, and at the same time insist upon this vital till it itselI learns
to pray Ior the change.
Finally, the diIIiculty will be reduced to its smallest proportions
the moment you can by the sincerity oI your aspiration to the
Divine and your surrender awaken the psychic being in you (the
Purusha in the secret heart) so that it will come Iorward and remain
in Iront and pour its inIluence on all the movements oI the mind,
the vital and the physical consciousness. The work oI
transIormation will still have to be done, but Irom that moment it
will no longer be so hard and painIul. (SABCL 24: 1010)

XIV 10. 'It is impossible to become like a child giving oneselI
entirely until the psychic is in control and stronger than the vital.
(CWSA 29: 76)
'It is the psychic coming Iorward that brings the Iorce oI
surrender. (CWSA 29: 77)

XIV 11. 'A strong vital is one that is Iull oI liIe-Iorce, has
ambition, courage, great energy, a Iorce Ior action or Ior creation, a
large expansive movement whether Ior generosity in giving or Ior
possession and lead and domination, a power to IulIil and
materialize many Iorms oI vital strength there are also. It is
oIten diIIicult Ior such a vital to surrender itselI because oI this
sense oI its own powersbut iI it can do so, it becomes an
XIV Surrender of the Vital in Yoga

!!!

admirable instrument Ior the Divine Work. (SABCL 22: 343)
(CWSA 28: 196)




























XIV Surrender of the Vital in Yoga

!!"

XV Other Important quotations on Surrender

XV 1. 'Moreover it is not easy to remain here. There is in the
Ashram no exterior discipline and no visible test. But the inner test
is severe and constant, one must be very sincere in the aspiration to
surmount all egoism and to conquer all vanity in order to be able to
stay.
A complete surrender is not outwardly exacted but it is
indispensable Ior those who wish to stick on, (in the ashram) and
many things come to test the sincerity oI the surrender. However
the Grace and the help are always there Ior those who aspire Ior
them and their power is limitless when received with Iaith and
conIidence. 20 November 1948 (CWM 13: 111)

XV 2. 'The most important surrender is the surrender oI your
character, your way oI being, so that it may change. II you do not
surrender your very own nature, never will this nature change. It is
this that is most important. You have certain ways oI
understanding, certain ways oI reacting, certain ways oI Ieeling,
almost certain ways oI progressing, and above all, a special way oI
looking at liIe and expecting Irom it certain things well, it is this
you must surrender. That is, iI you truly want to receive the divine
Light and transIorm yourselI, it is your whole way oI being you
must oIIeroIIer by opening it, making it as receptive as possible
so that the divine Consciousness which sees how you ought to be,
may act directly and change all these movements into movements
more true, more in keeping with your own truth.
This is inIinitely more important than surrendering what one does.
It is not what one does (what one does is very important, that`s
evident) that is the most important thing but what one is. Whatever
!!#

the activity, it is not quite the way oI doing it but the state oI
consciousness in which it is done that is important. You may work,
do disinterested work without any idea oI personal proIit, work Ior
the joy oI working, but iI you are not at the same time ready to
leave this work, to change the work or change the way oI working,
iI you cling to your own way oI working, your surrender is not
complete. You must come to a point when everything is done
because you Ieel within, very clearly, in a more and more
imperious way, that it is this which must be done and in this
particular way, and that you do it only because oI that. You do not
do it because oI any habit, attachment or preIerence, nor even any
conception, even a preIerence Ior the idea that it is the best thing to
doelse your surrender is not total. As long as you cling to
something, as long as there is something in you which says, 'This
may change, that may change, but that, that will not change, as
long as you say about anything at all, 'That will not change (not
that it reIuses to change, but because you can`t think oI its
changing), your surrender is not complete. It goes without saying
that iI in your action, your work, you have in the least this Ieeling,
'I am doing it because I have been told to do it, and there is not a
total adherence oI the being, and you do not do the work because
you Ieel it must be done and you love doing it; iI something holds
back, stands apart, separate, 'I was told it had to be done like that
so I did it like that, it means there is a great gulI between you and
surrender.
True surrender is to Ieel that one wants, one has, this complete
inner adherence: you cannot do but that, that which you have been
given to do, and what you have not been given to do you cannot
do. But at another moment the work may change; at any moment it
may be something else, iI it is decided that it be something else. It
XV Other Important quotations on Surrender
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is there that plasticity comes in. That makes a very great
diIIerence. It is well understood that those who work are told,
'Yes, work, that is your way oI surrendering, but it is a beginning.
This way has to be progressive. It is only a beginning, do you
understand? (CWM 4: 372-373)

XV 3. 'Q: What is the secret oI success in sadhana?
A: Surrender. (CWM 14: 108) 13 October 1965

XV 4. 'Discipline is indispensable to progress. It is only when
one imposes a rigorous and enlightened discipline on oneselI that
one can be Iree Irom the discipline oI others. The supreme
discipline is integral surrender to the Divine and to allow nothing
else either in one`s Ieelings or in one`s activities. Nothing should
ever be omitted Irom this surrender that is the supreme and most
rigorous discipline. 17 February 1972 (CWM 12: 381)

XV 5. 'Without sincerity the path oI yoga is dangerous; without
surrender it is impossible. 30 October 1936 (CWM 17: 149)

XV 6. 'You see, in the present condition oI the world,
circumstances are always diIIicult. The whole world is in a
condition oI striIe, conIlict, between the Iorces oI truth and light
wanting to maniIest and the opposition oI all that does not want to
change, which represents in the past what is Iixed, hardened and
reIuses to go. Naturally, each individual Ieels his own diIIiculties
and is Iaced by the same obstacles. There is only one way Ior you.
It is a total, complete and unconditional surrender. (CWM 15:
398)

XV Other Important quotations on Surrender

!!%

XV 7. 'There are two ways oI uniting with the Divine. One is to
concentrate in the heart and go deep enough to Iind there His
Presence; the other is to Iling oneselI in His arms, to nestle there as
a child nestles in its mother`s arms, with a complete surrender; and
oI the two the latter seems to me the easier. (CWM 16: 161)

XV 8. 'You can surrender either through knowledge or through
devotion.
You may have a strong intuition that the Divine alone is the truth
and a luminous conviction that without the Divine you cannot
manage. Or you may have a spontaneous Ieeling that this line is
the only way oI being happy, a strong psychic desire to belong
exclusively to the Divine:
'I do not belong to myselI, you say, and give up the responsibility
oI your being to the Truth. Then comes selI-oIIering:
'Here I am, a creature oI various qualities, good and bad, dark and
enlightened. I oIIer myselI as I am to you, take me up with all my
ups and downs, conIlicting impulses and tendenciesdo whatever
you like with me.
In the course oI your selI-oIIering, you start uniIying your being
around what has taken the Iirst decisionthe central psychic will.
All the jarring elements oI your nature have to be harmonised, they
have to be taken up one aIter another and uniIied with the central
being. You may oIIer yourselI to the Divine with a spontaneous
movement, but it is not possible to give yourselI eIIectively
without this uniIication. The more you are uniIied, the more you
are able to realise selI-giving. And once the selI-giving is
complete, consecration Iollows: it is the crown oI the whole
process oI realisation, the last step oI the gradation, aIter which
XV Other Important quotations on Surrender
!!&

there is no more trouble and everything runs smoothly. (CWM 3:
126)

XV 9. 'Three typical modes oI total selI-giving to the Divine:
(1) To prostrate oneselI at His Ieet, giving up all pride in perIect
humility.
(2) To unIold one`s being beIore Him, open one`s whole body
Irom head to Ioot, as one opens a book, exposing one`s centres so
as to make all their movements visible in a complete sincerity that
allows nothing to remain hidden.
(3) To nestle in His arms, to merge in Him in a loving and absolute
trust.
These movements may be accompanied by three Iormulas or any
one oI them according to the case:
(1) Let Thy Will be done and not mine.
(2) As Thou willest, as Thou willest.
(3) I am Thine Ior eternity.
Generally, when these movements are done in the true way, they
are Iollowed by a perIect identiIication, a dissolution oI the ego,
giving rise to a sublime Ielicity. (CWM 14: 102-103)

XV 10. 'It is on that consciousness oI complete surrender that
the psychic Ioundation oI sadhana can be made. II once it Iixes
itselI, then, whatever diIIiculties remain to be overcome, the course
oI the sadhana becomes perIectly easy, sunlit, natural like the
opening oI a Ilower. The Ieeling you have is an indication oI what
can and must develop in you. (SABCL 23: 600) (CWSA 29: 73)


XV Other Important quotations on Surrender

!!'

XV 11. 'The culmination oI the soul`s constant touch with the
Supreme is that selI-giving which we call surrender to the divine
Will and immergence oI the separated ego in the One who is all.
(SABCL 20: 193)

XV 12. 'This absolute selI-giving, this one-minded surrender is
the devotion which the Gita makes the crown oI its synthesis. All
action and eIIort are by this devotion turned into an oIIering to the
supreme and universal Godhead. 'Whatever thou doest, whatever
thou enjoyest, whatever thou sacriIicest, whatever thou givest,
whatever energy oI tapasya, oI the soul`s will or eIIort thou puttest
Iorth, make it an oIIering unto Me. Here the least, the slightest
circumstance oI liIe, the most insigniIicant giIt out oI oneselI or
what one has, the smallest action assumes a divine signiIicance and
it becomes an acceptable oIIering to the Godhead who makes it a
means Ior his possession oI the soul and liIe oI the God-lover.
(SABCL 13: 318-319)

XV 13. 'And equally when we Iirst become aware oI the inIinite
Shakti above us or around or in us, the impulse oI the egoistic
sense in us is to lay hold on it and use this increased might Ior our
egoistic purpose. This is a most dangerous thing, . The one
remedy is to still the egoistic claim oI whatever kind, to lessen
persistently the personal eIIort and individual straining which even
the sattwic ego cannot avoid and instead oI laying hold on the
Shakti and using it Ior its purpose rather to let the Shakti lay hold
on us and use us Ior the divine purpose. This cannot be done
perIectly at oncenor can it be done saIely iI it is only the lower
Iorm oI the universal energy oI which we are aware, Ior then, as
has already been said, there must be some other control, either oI
XV Other Important quotations on Surrender

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the mental Purusha or Irom above,but still it is the aim which we
must have beIore us and which can be wholly carried out when we
become insistently aware oI the highest spiritual presence and Iorm
oI the divine Shakti. This surrender too oI the whole action oI the
individual selI to the Shakti is in Iact a Iorm oI real selI-surrender
to the Divine. (SABCL 21: 738-739)

XV 14. 'It is not only the central thought and will that have to
acquiesce, but all the parts oI our being must assent and surrender
to the law oI the spiritual Truth; all has to learn to obey the
government oI the conscious Divine Power in the members. .
And yet the law oI participation and the law oI surrender are
imperative; at each step oI the transition the assent oI the Purusha
is needed and there must be too the consent oI each part oI the
nature to the action oI the higher power Ior its change. There must
be then a conscious selI-direction oI the mental being in us towards
this change, this substitution oI Supernature Ior the old nature, this
transcendence. The rule oI conscious obedience to the higher truth
oI the spirit, the surrender oI the whole being to the light and
power that come Irom the Supernature, is a second condition
which has to be accomplished slowly and with diIiculty by the
being itselI beIore the supramental transIormation can become at
all possible. (SABCL 19: 928-929)

XV 15. 'II one gets some habit oI true surrender, then all this is
not necessary; one can enter into the sunlit way. Or iI one can get
some touch oI what is called pure bhakti, suddha bhakti, then
whatever happens that is enough; the way becomes easy or, iI it
does not, still this is a suIIicient start to support us to the end
XV Other Important quotations on Surrender

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without the suIIerings and Ialls that happen so oIten to the ignorant
seeker. (SABCL 24: 1622)

XV 16. 'Surrender to the Guru is said to be surrender beyond all
surrenders because through it you surrender not only to the
impersonal, but to the personal, not only to the Divine in selI but to
the Divine outside you; you get a chance Ior the surpassing oI the
ego not only by retreat into the selI where ego does not exist, but in
the personal nature where it is the ruler. It is the sign oI the will to
complete surrender to the total Divine, samagram mam having
known Me integrally} .... manusim tanum asritam. lodged in the
human body} OI course it must be a genuine spiritual surrender Ior
all this to be true. (SABCL 23: 614) (CWSA 29: 193)

'No, surrender to the Divine and the surrender to the Guru are not
the same thing. In surrendering to the Guru, it is to the Divine in
him that one surrenders iI it were only to a human entity, it
would be ineIIective. But it is the consciousness oI the Divine
Presence that makes the Guru a real Guru, so that even iI the
disciple surrenders to him thinking oI the human being to whom he
surrenders, that presence will still make it eIIective. (SABCL 23:
615) (CWSA 29: 193-194)

XV 17. 'Each person has his own Ireedom oI choice up to a
certain pointunless he makes the Iull surrenderand as he uses
the Ireedom, has to take the spiritual or other consequences. The
help can only be oIIered, not imposed. Silence, absence oI Irank
conIession, means a desire in the vital to go its own way. When
there is no longer concealment, when there is the physical selI-
XV Other Important quotations on Surrender

!"*

opening to the Divine, then the Divine can intervene. (SABCL 23:
598) (CWSA 29: 68-69)

XV 18. 'II you are surrendered only in the higher consciousness,
with no peace or purity in the lower, certainly that is not enough
and you have to aspire Ior the peace and purity everywhere.
(SABCL 23: 599) (CWSA 29: 72)

XV 19. 'There are always two ways oI doing the Yogaone by
the action oI a vigilant mind and vital seeing, observing, thinking
and deciding what is or is not to be done. OI course it acts with the
Divine Force behind it, drawing or calling in that ForceIor
otherwise nothing much can be done. But still it is the personal
eIIort that is prominent and assumes most oI the burden.
The other way is that oI the psychic being, the consciousness
opening to the Divine, not only opening the psychic and bringing it
Iorward, but opening the mind, the vital and the physical, receiving
the Light, perceiving what is to be done, Ieeling and seeing it done
by the Divine Force itselI and helping constantly by its own
vigilant and conscious assent to and call Ior the Divine working.
Usually there cannot but be a mixture oI these two ways until the
consciousness is ready to be entirely open, entirely submitted to
the Divine's origination oI all its action. It is then that all
responsibility disappears and there is no personal burden on the
shoulders oI the sadhak. (SABCL 23: 594) (CWSA 29: 82-83)

XV 20. 'But it is best not to struggle with the resistances but to
stand back Irom them, observe as a witness, reject these
movements and call on the Divine Power to remove them.
Surrender oI the nature is not an easy thing and may take a long
XV Other Important quotations on Surrender

!"!

time; surrender oI the selI, iI one can do it, is easier and once that
is done, that oI the nature will come about sooner or later. But Ior
that it is necessary to detach oneselI Irom the action oI the Prakriti
and see oneselI as separate. To observe the movements as a
witness without being discouraged or disturbed is the best way to
eIIect the necessary detachment and separation. (SABCL 24:
1692)

XV 21. 'Beauty does not get its Iull power except when it is
surrendered to the Divine. (CWM 15: 232)

XV 22. 'Occultism does not truly blossom except when it is
surrendered to the Divine. (CWM 15: 30)

XV 23. 'Prayer - Remember that the Mother is always with you.
Address Her as Iollows and She will pull you out oI all diIIiculties:
'O Mother, Thou art the light oI my intelligence, the purity oI my
soul, the quiet strength oI my vital, the endurance oI my body. I
rely on Thee alone and want to be entirely Thine. Make me
surmount all obstacles on the way. (CWM 15: 215)

XV 24. 1935 - NEW YEAR MESSAGE - We surrender to Thee
this evening all that is artiIicial and Ialse, all that pretends and
imitates. Let it disappear with the year that is at an end. May only
what is perIectly true, sincere, straight and pure subsist in the year
that is beginning. (CWM 15: 165)

XV 25. . THE ANTI-DIVINE
'I have noticed one thing, that in at least ninety-nine cases out oI a
hundred this attack by adverse Iorces} is an excuse which people
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!""

give to themselves. I have seen that practically almost all who
write to me: 'I am violently attacked by adverse Iorces, give this
as an excuse. It is because there are many things in their nature
which do not want to surrender, so they put all the blame on the
adverse Iorces. (CWM 15: 345)
XV 26. 'Behind the surIace there is a depth, and it is only when
you enter into the depth that you touch the true thing. And each
time it is the same experience: what appeared as a depth becomes a
surIace, a surIace with all that it means, something inaccurate,
artiIicial, an artiIicial transcription, something that gives one the
impression that it is not truly living: it is a copy, an imitationit is
an image, a reIlection, not the thing itselI. You pass into another
zone and you have the impression that you have discovered the
Source and the Power, the Truth oI things; and then, this source,
this power and this truth become in their turn an appearance, an
imitation, a transcription in relation to the new realisation.
Meanwhile, we must indeed recognise that we have not got the key
yet; it is not within our hands. Or rather we know quite well where
it is, and we have only one thing to do: the perIect surrender oI
which Sri Aurobindo speaks, the total selI-giving to the Divine
Will, whatever happens, even in the midst oI the night. There is the
night and there is the sun, the night and the sun, again the night,
many nights; but one must cling to this will to surrender, cling to it
as in a tempest, and give up everything into the hands oI the
Supreme Lord, until the day when the Sun will come Ior ever, the
total victory. (CWM 15: 369-370) Words oI the Mother III

XV 27. 'But where to get such a strength?
Within you. The Divine Presence is in you. It is in you. You look
Ior it outside; look inside. It is in you. The Presence is there. You
XV Other Important quotations on Surrender

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want the appreciation oI others to get strengthyou will never get
it. The strength is in you. II you want, you can aspire Ior what
seems to you the supreme goal, supreme light, supreme
knowledge, supreme love. But it is in youotherwise you would
never be able to contact it. II you go deep enough inside you, you
will Iind it there, like a Ilame that is always burning straight up.
And don`t believe that it is so diIIicult to do. It is because the look
is always turned outside that you don`t Ieel the Presence. But iI,
instead oI looking outside Ior support, you concentrate and you
prayinside, to the supreme knowledgeto know at each
moment what is to be done, the way to do it, and iI you give all
you are, all you do in order to acquire perIection, you will Ieel that
the support is there, always guiding, showing the way. And iI there
is a diIIiculty, then instead oI wanting to Iight, you hand it over,
hand it over to the supreme wisdom to deal with itto deal with
all the bad wills, all the misunderstandings, all the bad reactions. II
you surrender completely, it is no more your concern: it`s the
concern oI the Supreme who takes it up and knows better than
anybody else what is to be done. The only way out, only way out.
(CWM 15: 399-400)

XV 28. 'II you reIuse to become a docile and surrendered
servant oI the Divine and oI the Master who maniIests Him, it
means that you will remain a slave oI your egoism, your vanity,
your presumptuous ambition, and a toy in the hands oI the
Rakshasas who allure you with brilliant images in their attempt
not always unsuccessIulto possess you. (CWM 15: 23-24)


XV Other Important quotations on Surrender

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XV 29. 'Psychic protection: the protection resulting Irom
surrender to the Divine. (CWM 15: 47)
'Physical protection is possible only with a total surrender to the
Divine and the absence oI all desires. (CWM 15: 47)

XV 30. 'Your Iather died because it was his time to die.
Circumstances can be an occasion but surely not a cause. The
cause is in the Divine`s will and nothing can alter it. So, grieve not
and surrender your sorrow at the Ieet oI the Divine. He will give
you peace and Ireedom. (CWM 15: 122)

XV 31. 'Physical ailments are always the sign oI a resistance in
the physical being; but with surrender to the Divine`s Will and a
complete trust in the working oI the Grace, they are bound to
disappear soon. 22 May 1957 (CWM 15: 137)

XV 32. 'Instead oI being upset and struggling, the best thing to
do is to oIIer one`s body to the Divine with the sincere prayer, 'Let
Thy Will be done. II there is any possibility oI cure, it will
establish the best conditions Ior it; and iI cure is impossible, it will
be the very best preparation Ior getting out oI the body and the liIe
without it. In any case the Iirst indispensable condition is a quiet
surrender to the Divine`s will. With love and blessings. (CWM
15: 149)

XV 33. 'And in Iact the claim oI our being upon the Divine is
IulIilled absolutely only then when it ceases at all to be a claim and
is instead a IulIilment oI the Divine through the individual, when
we are satisIied with that alone, when we are content with the
delight oI oneness in being, content to leave the supreme SelI and
XV Other Important quotations on Surrender

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Master oI existence to do whatever is the will oI his absolute
wisdom and knowledge through our more and more perIected
Nature.
This is the sense oI the selI-surrender oI the individual selI to the
Divine, atma-samarpana. It does not exclude a will Ior the delight
oI oneness, Ior participation in the divine consciousness, wisdom,
knowledge, light, power, perIection, Ior the satisIaction oI the
divine IulIilment in us, but the will, the aspiration is ours because it
is his will in us. At Iirst, while there is still insistence on our own
personality, it only reIlects that, but becomes more and more
indistinguishable Irom it, less personal and eventually it loses all
shade oI separateness, because the will in us has grown identical
with the divine Tapas, the action oI the divine Shakti. (SABCL
21: 738)

XV 34. Psychic and Surrender}
XV 34. a. 'The psychic is realised as the Purusha behind the
heart. It is not universalised like the Jivatman, but is the individual
soul supporting Irom its place behind the heart-centre the mental,
vital, physical, psychic evolution oI the being in Nature. Its
realisation brings Bhakti, selI-giving, surrender, turning oI all the
movements Godward, discrimination and choice oI all that belongs
to the Divine Truth, Good, Beauty, rejection oI all that is Ialse,
evil, ugly, discordant, union through love and sympathy with all
existence, openness to the Truth oI the SelI and the Divine.
(CWSA 28: 106-107)



XV Other Important quotations on Surrender
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XV 34. b. 'It is the psychic inmost being that replaces the ego. It
is through love and surrender to the Divine that the psychic being
becomes strong and maniIest, so that it can replace the ego.
(CWSA 28: 124)

XV 34. c. "... psychic Iaith opens to the direct touch oI the
Divine and helps to bring union and surrender. (CWSA 29: 99)

XV 34. d. 'The Guru`s touch or grace may open something, but
the diIIiculties have always to be worked out still. What is true is
that iI there is complete surrender which implies the prominence oI
the psychic, these diIIiculties are no longer Ielt as a burden or
obstacle but only as superIicial imperIections which the working oI
the grace will remove. (CWSA 29: 197)

XV 35. Surrendering to the Guru
XV 35. a. 'No |surrender to the Divine and surrender to the Guru
are not two diIIerent things|. In surrendering to the Guru, it is to
the Divine in him that one surrendersiI it were only to a human
entity it would be ineIIective. But it is the consciousness oI the
Divine Presence that makes the Guru a real Guru, so that even iI
the disciple surrenders to him thinking oI the human being to
whom he surrenders, that Presence would still make it eIIective.
(CWSA 29: 193-194)

XV 35. b. 'But the touch oI grace, divine grace coming directly
or through the Guru is a special phenomenon ... This decisive
touch comes most easily to the 'baby cat people, those who have
at some point between the psychic and the emotional vital a quick
and decisive movement oI surrender to the Guru or the Divine. I
XV Other Important quotations on Surrender

!"'

have seen that when that is there and there is the conscious central
dependence compelling the mind also and the rest oI the vital, then
the Iundamental diIIiculty disappears. II others remain they are not
Ielt as diIIiculties, but simply as things that have just to be done
and need cause no worry. (CWSA 29: 195-196)

XV 35. c. 'It is not the human deIects oI the Guru that can stand
in the way when there is the psychic opening, conIidence and
surrender. The Guru is the channel or the representative or the
maniIestation oI the Divine, according to the measure oI his
personality or his attainment; but whatever he is, it is to the Divine
that one opens in opening to him, and iI something is determined
by the power oI the channel, more is determined by the inherent
and intrinsic attitude oI the receiving consciousness, an element
that comes out in the surIace mind as simple trust or direct
unconditional selI-giving, and once that is there, the essential
things can be gained even Irom one who seems to others than the
disciple an inIerior spiritual source and the rest will grow up in the
sadhak oI itselI by the Grace oI the Divine, even iI the human
being in the Guru cannot give it. (CWSA 29: 201)

XV 35. d. 'In my own case I owe the Iirst decisive turn oI my
inner liIe to one who was inIinitely inIerior to me in intellect,
education and capacity and by no means spiritually perIect or
supreme; but, having seen a Power behind him and decided to turn
there Ior help, I gave myselI entirely into his hands and Iollowed
with an automatic passivity the guidance. He himselI was
astonished and said to others that he had never met anyone beIore
who could surrender himselI so absolutely and without reserve or
question to the guidance oI the helper. The result was a series oI
XV Other Important quotations on Surrender

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transmuting experiences oI such a radical character that he was
unable to Iollow and had to tell me to give myselI up in Iuture to
the Guide within with the same completeness oI surrender as I had
shown to the human channel. I give this example to show how
these things work; it is not in the calculated way the human reason
wants to lay down, but by a more mysterious and greater law.
(CWSA 29: 202)

XV 36. Work and surrender
XV 36. a. 'There is no stage oI the sadhana in which works are
impossible, no passage in the path where there is no Ioothold and
action has to be renounced as incompatible with concentration on
the Divine. The Ioothold is there always; the Ioothold is the
reliance on the Divine, the opening oI the being, the will, the
energies to the Divine, the surrender to the Divine. All work done
in that spirit can be made a means Ior the sadhana. (CWSA 29:
216)

XV 36. b. 'That is the most important thing to get overego,
anger, personal dislikes, selI-regarding sensitiveness etc. Work is
not only Ior work`s sake, but as a Iield oI sadhana, Ior getting rid
oI the lower personality and its reactions and acquiring a Iull
surrender to the Divine. As Ior the work itselI it must be done
according to the organisation arranged or sanctioned by the
Mother. You must always remember that it is her work and not
personally yours. (CWSA 29: 239)

XV 36. c. 'For the sadhak outward struggles, troubles, calamities
are only a means oI surmounting ego and rajasic desire and
attaining to complete surrender. So long as one insists on success,
XV Other Important quotations on Surrender
!")

one is doing the work partly at least Ior the ego; diIIiculties and
outward Iailures come to warn one that it is so and to bring
complete equality. This does not mean that the power oI victory is
not to be acquired; but it is not success in the immediate work that
is all-important; it is the power to receive and transmit a greater
and greater correct vision and inner Force that has to be developed
and this must be done quite coolly and patiently without being
elated or disturbed by immediate victory or Iailure. (CWSA 29:
241-242)

XV 36. d. 'But I do not regard the ascetic way oI living as
indispensable to spiritual perIection or as identical with it. There is
the way oI spiritual selI-mastery and the way oI spiritual selIgiving
and surrender to the Divine, abandoning ego and desire even in the
midst oI action or oI any kind oI work or all kinds oI work
demanded Irom us by the Divine. II it were not so, there would not
have been great spiritual men like Janaka or Vidura in India and
even there would have been no Krishna or else Krishna would
have been not the Lord oI Brindavan and Mathura and Dwarka or a
prince and warrior or the charioteer oI Kurukshetra, but only one
more great anchorite. (CWSA 29: 250)

XV 36. e. 'II there is the Iull surrender in the work and you Ieel
it is the Mother`s and that the Mother`s Iorce is working in you,
then Iatigue does not come. (CWSA 29: 273)

XV 36. I. 'Do not worry about mistakes in work. OIten you
imagine that things are badly done by you when really you have
done them very well; but even iI there are mistakes, it is nothing to
be sad about. Let the consciousness growonly in the divine
XV Other Important quotations on Surrender
!#*

consciousness is there an entire perIection. The more you surrender
to the Divine, the more will there be the possibility oI perIection in
you. (CWSA 29: 285)

XV 37. 'As Ior the way out oI the impasse, deadlock} I know
oI the ... humility beIore the Divine which liberates Irom egoism
and the pride oI the mind and oI the vital, the pride that imposes its
own reasonings on the ways oI the spirit and the pride that reIuses
or is unable to surrender, sustained persistence in the call within
and reliance on the Grace above. (CWSA 29: 47)

XV 38. "This calm, peace and surrender are the right atmosphere
Ior all the rest to come, knowledge, strength, Ananda. Let it
become complete." (CWSA 29: 124)

XV 39. 'Complete samata takes long to establish and it is
dependent on three thingsthe soul`s selI-giving to the Divine by
an inner surrender, the descent oI the spiritual calm and peace Irom
above and the steady, long and persistent rejection oI all egoistic,
rajasic and other Ieelings that contradict samata. (CWSA 29: 131)

XV 40. 'Love, bhakti, surrender, the psychic opening are the
only short cut to the Divineor can be; Ior iI the love and bhakti
are too vital, then there is likely to be a seesaw between ecstatic
expectation and viraha, abhimana, despair, which will make it not
a short cut but a long one, a zigzag, not a straight Ilight, a whirling
round one`s own ego instead oI a running towards the Divine.
(CWSA 29: 212)

XV Other Important quotations on Surrender
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XV 41. 'PerIection comes by renunciation oI desires and
surrender to a higher Will. (CWSA 29: 278)

XV 42. 'This Yoga too is not a Yoga oI knowledge alone
knowledge is one oI its means, but its base being selI-oIIering,
surrender, bhakti, it is based on the heart and nothing can be
eventually done without this base. (CWSA 29: 226)

XV 43. 'The true love Ior the Divine is a selI-giving, Iree oI
demand, Iull oI submission and surrender; it makes no claim,
imposes no condition, strikes no bargain, indulges in no violences
oI jealousy or pride or angerIor these things are not in its
composition. In return the Divine Mother also gives herselI, but
Ireelyand this represents itselI in an inner givingher presence
in your mind, your vital, your physical consciousness, her power
re-creating you in the divine nature, taking up all the movements oI
your being and directing them towards perIection and IulIilment,
her love enveloping you and carrying you in its arms Godwards.
(CWSA 29: 338)

XV 44. 'Ananda and bhakti are part oI that deeper
consciousness, and it is only when one lives in it and
grows in it that ananda and bhakti can be permanent. Till then, one
can only get experiences oI ananda and bhakti, but not the constant
and permanent state. But the state oI bhakti and constantly growing
surrender does not come to all at an early stage oI the sadhana;
many, most indeed, have a long journey oI puriIication and tapasya
to go through beIore it opens, and experiences oI this kind, at Iirst
rare and interspaced, aIterwards Irequent, are the landmarks oI
their progress. (CWSA 29: 352)
XV Other Important quotations on Surrender
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XV 45. 'SelIlessness, selI-giving, entire Iaith and conIidence,
absence oI demand and desire, surrender to the Divine Will, love
concentrated on the Divineare some oI the main signs |oI true
love and bhakti|. (CWSA 29: 357)

XV 46. 'Quietude and surrender are the Iirst things to be
established. In that must come the Iull contact. By that contact, iI
well established, will come a steady progressive sadhana, not the
old conIused sadhana. (CWSA 29: 362)

XV 47. 'Prayer and aspiration are a part oI the spiritual liIe and
do not conIlict with surrender, provided one is not disturbed in
either way by the IulIilment or unIulIilment oI the prayer and
keeps one`s Iaith and quietude all the same. (CWSA 29: 365)

XV 48. 'This Yoga does not mean a rejection oI the powers oI
LiIe, but an inner transIormation and a change oI the spirit in the
liIe and the use oI the powers. These powers are now used in an
egoistic spirit and Ior undivine ends; they have to be used in a
spirit oI surrender to the Divine and Ior the purposes oI the divine
Work. That is what is meant by conquering them back Ior the
Mother. II anyone Ieels himselI too weak to resist the clutch oI the
egoistic money-Iorce he need not make the endeavour. (CWSA
29: 384)

XV 49. 'But Ior that, surrender oI the mortal mind, liIe and body
to that Higher Consciousness is indispensable, since it is too
diIIicult Ior the mortal human being to pass by its own eIIort
beyond mind to a supramental consciousness in which the
XV Other Important quotations on Surrender
!##

dynamism is no longer mental but oI quite another power. Only
those who can accept the call to such a change should enter into
this Yoga. (CWSA 29: 448)

XV 50. 'Prayopavesana Iasting Ior long time} would be quite
the wrong movement, it would be a sort oI Satyagraha against the
Divine. In essence it is an attempt to Iorce the Divine to do what
one wants instead oI trusting to him to do what is best according to
his own divine will and wisdom; it is a culminating act oI vital
impatience and disappointed desire, while the true movement is a
pure aspiration and an ardent surrender. (CWSA 29: 473)

XV 51. 'The bhakta looks Ior it, but he is ready to wait in perIect
reliance, even iI need be all his liIe, knowing that it will come,
never varying in his love and surrender because it does not come
now or soon. That is the spirit oI so many songs oI the devotees,
which you have sung yourselI; I heard one such song Irom you in a
record some time ago and a very beautiIul song it was and
beautiIully sung 'Even iI I have not won thee, O Lord, still I
adore. (CWSA 29: 473)

XV 52. 'The consciousness that is aware oI the Divine and the
Truth and does not look at things Irom the ego |is the true
consciousness| it is wide and calm and strong and aspires to
union and surrenderit is many things besides, but this is the
essential. (CWSA 28: 99)

XV 53. 'It is quite true that the surrender and the consequent
transIormation oI the whole being is the aim oI the Yogathe
body is not excluded, but at the same time this part oI the
XV Other Important quotations on Surrender

!#$

endeavour is the most diIIicult and doubtIulthe rest, though not
Iacile, is comparatively less diIIicult to accomplish. (CWSA 28:
305)

XV 54. 'It is never too early to make the complete surrender.
Some things may need to wait, but not that. (CWSA 29: 74)
























XV Other Important quotations on Surrender
!#%

XVI Surrender (A Sonnet by Sri Aurobindo)

Surrender
O Thou oI whom I am the instrument,
O secret Spirit and Nature housed in me,
Let all my mortal being now be blent
In Thy still glory oI divinity.
I have given my mind to be dug Thy channel mind,
I have oIIered up my will to be Thy will:
Let nothing oI myselI be leIt behind
In our union mystic and unutterable.
My heart shall throb with the world-beats oI Thy love,
My body become Thy engine Ior earth-use;
In my nerves and veins Thy rapture`s streams shall move;
My thoughts shall be hounds oI Light Ior Thy power to loose.
Keep only my soul to adore eternally
And meet Thee in each Iorm and soul oI Thee. (CWSA 2: 611)













!#&

XVII Radhas Prayer

Radha`s Prayer: 'O Thou whom at Iirst sight I knew Ior the Lord
oI my being and my God, receive my oIIering.
Thine are all my thoughts, all my emotions, all the sentiments oI
my heart, all my sensations, all the movements oI my liIe, each cell
oI my body, each drop oI my blood.
I am absolutely and altogether Thine, Thine without reserve.
What Thou wilt oI me, that I shall be. Whether Thou choosest Ior
me liIe or death, happiness or sorrow, pleasure or suIIering, all that
comes to me Irom Thee will be welcome.
Each one oI Thy giIts will be always Ior me a giIt divine bringing
with it the supreme Felicity.
(CWSA 32: 646) (CWM 15: 210)

The Mother originally wrote 'Radha`s Prayer in English on 12
January 1932 and rendered it into French the Iollowing day. Sri
Aurobindo then translated the French version into English.
The Mother wrote this prayer Ior a disciple who was preparing to
perIorm a dance about Radha. In a letter to the disciple the Mother
wrote: To complete what I told you yesterday about Radha`s dance
I have noted this down as an indication oI the thought and Ieeling
Radha must have within her when she stands at the end in Iront oI
Krishna:
'Every thought oI my mind, every emotion oI my heart, every
movement oI my being, every Ieeling and every sensation, each
cell oI my body, each drop oI my blood, all, all is yours, yours
absolutely, yours without reserve. You can decide my liIe or my
death, my happiness or my sorrow, my pleasure or my pain;

!#'

whatever you do with me, whatever comes to me Irom you will
lead me to the Divine Rapture. (CWSA 32: 662)

'Radha is the symbol oI loving consecration to the Divine.
(CWM 16: 173)
























XVII Radhas Prayer

!#(

XVIII - From the Mothers Prayers and Meditations on
Surrender

January 4, 1914
. In any case, I do not struggle; and like a child in its mother`s
arms, like a Iervent disciple at the Ieet oI his master, I trust myselI
to Thee and surrender to Thy guidance, sure oI Thy victory.
(CWM 1: 46)
March 17, 1914
WHEN physical conditions are a little diIIicult and some
discomIort Iollows, iI one knows how to surrender completely
beIore Thy will, caring little Ior liIe or death, health or illness, the
integral being enters immediately into harmony with Thy law oI
love and liIe, and all physical indisposition ceases giving place to a
calm well-being, deep and peaceIul. (CWM 1: 101)

March 20, 1914
THOU art consciousness and light, Thou art peace in the depth oI
all things, the divine love that transIigures, the knowledge that
triumphs over darkness. To Ieel Thee and aspire to Thee one
should have emerged Irom the immense sea oI the subconscient,
one should have begun to crystallise, to grow distinct so as to
know oneselI and then give oneselI as that alone which is its own
master can do. And what eIIort and struggle it takes to attain this
crystallisation, to emerge Irom the amorphous state oI the
environment; and how much more eIIort and struggle yet to give
oneselI, to surrender once the individuality has been Iormed. Few
beings consent willingly to make this eIIort; so liIe with its brutal
unIoreseen events obliges men to make it unintentionally, Ior they

!#)

cannot do otherwise. And little by little Thy work is accomplished
despite all obstacles. (CWM 1: 104)

April 7, 1914
. Now I seem to hear Thy voice: 'Never hast thou known how to
die integrally. Always something in thee has wanted to know, to
witness, to understand. Surrender completely, learn how to
disappear, break the last barrier that separates thee Irom me;
accomplish unreservedly thy act oI surrender.(CWM 1: 120)

July 4, 1914
O SOVEREIGN Force, O victorious Power, Purity, Beauty,
supreme Love, grant that this being in its integrality, this body in
all its totality may draw near to Thee solemnly and oIIer to Thee in
a complete and humble surrender this means oI maniIestation
abandoned perIectly to ThyWill, iI not perIectly ready Ior this
realisation. . . .
With the calm and strong certitude that Thou wilt one day
accomplish the expected miracle and maniIest in its Iullness Thy
sublime splendour, we turn to Thee in a proIound rapture, and
silently implore Thee. . . .
Immensity, InIinitude, Wonder. . . . Thou alone art and Thou
shinest resplendent in all things. The hour oI Thy IulIilment is
near. All Nature is ingathered in a solemn concentration.
Thou answerest her ardent call. (CWM 1: 192)

July 10, 1914
OTHOU who eternally, immutably art, who consentest to Thy
becoming in this world that Thou mayst bring into it a new
Illumination, a new Impulsion, Thou art here, maniIest ThyselI
XVIII - From the Mothers Prayers and Meditations on Surrender

!$*

more and more completely, always more perIectly; the instrument
has given and gives itselI to Thee with a Iervent adhesion, a total
surrender; Thou mayst reduce it to dust or transIorm it into a sun, it
will resist nothing that is Thy Will. In this surrender lies its true
strength and its true beatitude. (CWM 1: 197)

August 18, 1914
. In a most perIect surrender and a most entire trust I wait: Thy
voice showing me Thy path. (CWM 1: 226)

August 25, 1914
O LORD, let Thy Will be done, Thy work be accomplished.
FortiIy our devotion, increase our surrender, give us light upon the
path. We erect Thee within us as our supreme Master that Thou
mayst become supreme Master oI all the earth.
Our speech is still ignorant: enlighten it. Our aspiration is still
imperIect: puriIy it. Our action is still powerless: make it eIIective.
O Lord, the earth groans and suIIers; chaos has made
this world its abode. The darkness is so deep that Thou alone canst
dispel it. Come, maniIest ThyselI, that Thy work may be
accomplished. (CWM 1: 231)

September 1, 1914
O MOTHER Divine, with what Iervour, what ardent love I came to
Thee in Thy deepest consciousness, in Thy high status oI sublime
love and perIect Ielicity, and I nestled so close into Thy arms and
loved Thee with so intense a love that I became altogether ThyselI.
(CWM 1: 238)


XVIII - From the Mothers Prayers and Meditations on Surrender
!$!

XIX Absolute and unreserved self surrender of the Mother

'The Iirst time Sri Aurobindo happened to describe |the Mother`s|
qualities, he said he had never seen anywhere a selI surrender so
absolute and unreserved. . This implies a complete obliteration oI
the past, erasing it with its virtues and Iaults. The Mother has
reIerred to this in one oI her Prayers and Meditations. |Prayer oI
April 3, given below| When she came here, she gave herselI up to
the Lord, Sri Aurobindo, with the candid simplicity oI a child, aIter
erasing Irom herselI all her past, all her spiritual attainments, all
the riches oI her consciousness. Like a new born babe, she Ielt she
possessed nothing, she was to learn everything right Irom the start,
as iI she had known or heard about nothing. . This capacity Ior an
entire rejection oI the past has been one oI the powers oI her
spiritual consciousness and realization. It is not an easy thing Ior a
human being to wash himselI clean oI all his past acquisitions, be
it intellectual knowledge or the habits oI the vital, not to speak oI
the body`s needs, and step Iorth in his nude purity. And yet this is
the Iirst and most important step in the spiritual discipline. The
Mother has given us a living example oI this. (Reminiscences,
Nolini and Amrita, 1969, p81-82) (Glimpses oI the Mother`s LiIe,
p 136)

Prayers and Meditation April 3, 1914
'It seems to me that I am being born to a new liIe and all the
methods, the habits oI the past can no longer be oI any use. It
seems to me that what I thought were results is nothing more than
a preparation. I Ieel as though I have done nothing yet, as though I
have not lived the spiritual liIe, only entered the path that leads to

!$"

it, it seems to me that I know nothing, that I am incapable oI
Iormulating anything, that all experience is yet to begin.
It is as though I were stripped oI my entire past, oI its errors as
well as its conquests, as though all that has vanished and made
room Ior a new-born child whose whole existence is yet to be
lived, who has no Karma, no experience to learn Irom, but no error
either which has to be set right. My head is empty oI all knowledge
and all certitude, but also oI all vain thought.
I Ieel that iI I learn how to surrender without any resistance to this
state, iI I do not try to know or understand, iI I consent to be
completely like an ignorant and candid child, some new possibility
will open beIore me. I know that I must now deIinitively give
myselI up and be like an absolutely blank page on which Thy
thought, Thy will, O Lord, can be inscribed Ireely without danger
oI any deIormation.
An immense gratitude rises Irom my heart, it seems to me that I
have at last reached the threshold I sought so much. (CWM 1: 116)
(Prayers and Meditations)












XIX Absolute and unreserved self surrender of the Mother
!$#

XX In Integral Yoga we surrender to the Divine Mother.

In the Integral Yoga, one has to surrender to the Divine Mother,
Our sweet Mother oI Sri Aurobindo Ashram. Sri Aurobindo had
accepted that he reIers to our Divine Mother in the book The
Mother. In this section we give all the quotations which are
speciIic to the Divine Mother.}

XX 1. Q: Do you not reIer to the Mother (our Mother) in your
book The Mother?
A: Yes.
Q: Is she not the 'Individual Divine Mother who has embodied
'the power oI these two vaster ways oI her existence
Transcendent and Universal?
A: Yes.
Q: Has she not descended here (amongst us) into the Darkness and
Falsehood and Error and Death in her deep and great love Ior us?
A: Yes. (SABCL 25: 47) (CWSA 32: 31)

XX 2. a. Q: There are many who hold the view that she was
human but now embodies the Divine Mother and her Prayers, they
say, explain this view. But to my mental conception, to my psychic
Ieeling, she is the Divine Mother who has consented to put on
herselI the cloak oI obscurity and suIIering and ignorance so that
she can eIIectively lead ushuman beingsto Knowledge and
Bliss and Ananda and to Him.
A: The Divine puts on an appearance oI humanity, assumes the
outward human nature in order to tread the path and show it to
human beings, but does not cease to be the Divine. It is a
maniIestation that takes place, a maniIestation oI a growing divine

!$$

consciousness, not human turning into divine. The Mother was
inwardly above the human even in childhood, so the view held by
'many is erroneous. (SABCL 25: 48) (CWSA 32: 31-32)

XX 2. b. 'The One whom we adore as the Mother is the divine
Conscious Force that dominates all existence, one and yet so
many-sided that to Iollow her movement is impossible even Ior the
quickest mind and Ior the Ireest and most vast intelligence. The
Mother is the consciousness and Iorce oI the Supreme and Iar
above all she creates. But something oI her ways can be seen and
Ielt through her embodiments and the more seizable because more
deIined and limited temperament and action oI the goddess Iorms
in whom she consents to be maniIest to her creatures. (SABCL
25: 19-20) (CWSA 32: 14)

XX 3. 'This yoga insists on both the aspects;* the surrender to
the Divine Mother is essential, Ior without it there is no IulIilment
oI the object oI the yoga. (SABCL 22: 72) (CWSA 29: 443)
*|vedantic tradition which leans entirely on the Ishwara aspect oI
the Divine; . the Tantric tradition leans on the Shakti or Ishwari
aspect and makes all depend on the Divine Mother|

XX 4. a. 'But the surrender must be to the Mother not even to
the Force, but to the Mother herselI. (SABCL 23: 586) (SABCL
25: 133) (CWSA 32: 147) (CWSA 29: 78)

XX 4. b. 'To be entirely sincere means to desire the divine Truth
only, to surrender yourselI more and more to the Divine Mother, to
reject all personal demand and desire other than this one aspiration,
to oIIer every action in liIe to the Divine and do it as the work
XX In Integral Yoga we surrender to the Divine Mother

!$%

given without bringing in the ego. This is the basis oI the divine
liIe. (CWSA 29: 51)

XX 5. 'Surrender means to be entirely in the Mother`s hands,
and not to resist in any way by egoism or otherwise her Light,
Knowledge, Will, the working oI her Force, etc. (SABCL 23:
586) (CWSA 29: 67)

XX 6. 'For the vital wants to aIIirm its own ideas, impulses,
desires, preIerences and to do what it likes, it does not want to Ieel
another Iorce than that oI its own nature leading or driving it; but
surrender to the Mother means that it must give up all these
personal things and allow her Force to guide and drive it in the
ways oI a higher Truth which are not its own ways: so it (vital)
resists, does not want to be dominated by the Truth Light and the
Mother`s Force, insists on its own independence and reIuses to
surrender. 8-10-1936 (SABCL 25: 131) (CWSA 28: 147-148)

XX 7. 'Surrender is Irom within, opening and giving mind, vital,
physical, all to the Mother Ior her to take them as her own and
recreate them in their true being which is a portion oI the Divine;
all the rest Iollows as a consequence. It would not then be
necessary to ask her word and order outwardly in every detail; the
being would Ieel and act according to her will; her sanction would
be sought but as the seal oI that inner unity, receptiveness oI her
will and obedience. 11 June 1932 (SABCL 25: 273) (CWSA
32:347)


XX In Integral Yoga we surrender to the Divine Mother

!$&

XX 8. 'II the psychic maniIests, it will not ask you to surrender
to it, Iorce} but to surrender to the Mother. 4 October 1936
(SABCL 23: 586) (SABCL 25: 133) (CWSA 32: 147) (CWSA 29:
78)

XX 9. 'The best way is to live in the psychic being, Ior that is
always surrendered to the Mother and can lead the others in the
right way. (SABCL 25: 133) (CWSA 32: 145)
'Your psychic being is capable oI giving itselI to the Mother and
living and growing in the Truth; but your lower vital being has
been Iull oI attachments and sanskaras and an impure movement oI
desire and your external physical mind was not able to shake oII its
ignorant ideas and habits and open to the Truth. (SABCL 25: 133)
(CWSA 32: 142)

XX 10. 'There is not much spiritual meaning in keeping open to
the Mother iI you withhold your surrender. SelI-giving or
surrender is demanded oI those who practice this Yoga, because
without such a progressive surrender oI the being it is quite
impossible to get anywhere near the goal. To keep open means to
call in her Force to work in you, and iI you do not surrender to it, it
amounts to not allowing the Force to work in you at all or else only
on condition that it will work in the way you want and not in its
own way which is the way oI the Divine Truth. A suggestion oI
this kind is usually made by some adverse Power or by some
egoistic element oI the mind or vital . The soul, the true being, on
the contrary, turns towards the Divine and is not only willing but
eager and happy to surrender. (SABCL 25: 131-132) (CWSA 32:
140-141)

XX In Integral Yoga we surrender to the Divine Mother

!$'

XX 11. 'There has never been here a real surrender, any giving
up oI yourselI Ireely and simply into the hands oI the Divine
Mother. And yet that is the only way to succeed in the supramental
Yoga. To be a Yogi, a Sannyasi, a Tapaswi is not the object here.
The object is transIormation, and the transIormation can only be
done by a Iorce inIinitely greater than your own; it can only be
done by being truly like a child in the hands oI the Divine Mother.
(SABCL 25: 129) (CWSA 32: 143)

XX 12. 'Everyone who is turned to the Mother is doing my
Yoga. It is a great mistake to suppose that one can do` the Purna
Yoga i.e. carry out and IulIil all the sides oI the Yoga by one`s
own eIIort. No human being can do that. What one has to do is to
put oneselI in the Mother`s hands and open oneselI to her by
service, by bhakti, by aspiration; then the Mother by her light and
Iorce works in him so that the Sadhana is done. (SABCL 25: 130)
(CWSA 32: 151-152)

XX 13. 'The spiritual seeker does not turn aside Irom the pursuit
oI realisation to mere idealising; not to idealise, but to realise the
Divine Truth is always his aim, either beyond or in liIe also and
in the latter case it is necessary to transIorm mind and liIe which
cannot be done without surrender to the action oI the Divine Force,
the Mother. (SABCL 25: 132) (CWSA 32: 141)

XX - 14. 'To seek aIter the Impersonal is the way oI those who
want to withdraw Irom liIe, but usually they try by their own eIIort
and not by an opening oI themselves to a superior Power or by the
way oI surrender; Ior the Impersonal is not something that guides
or helps, but something to be attained and it leaves each man to
XX In Integral Yoga we surrender to the Divine Mother

!$(

attain it according to the way and capacity oI his nature. On the
other hand, by an opening and surrender to the Mother one can
realise the Impersonal and every other aspect oI Truth also.
(SABCL 25: 132) (CWSA 32: 141)

XX 15. 'There is only one way iI you cannot exert your will it
is to call the Force; even the call only with the mind or the mental
word is better than being extremely passive and submitted to the
attack, Ior although it may not succeed instantaneously, the
mental call even ends by bringing the Force and opening up the
consciousness again. For everything depends upon that. (SABCL
25: 336)

XX 16. a. 'Q: What is real opening?
A: It is the receptivity to the Mother`s presence and her Iorces.
(CWSA 32: 150)

XX 16. b. 'You have only to aspire, to keep yourselI open to the
Mother, to reject all that is contrary to her will and to let her work
in you doing also all your work Ior her and in Iaith that it is
through her Iorce that you can do it. II you remain open in this way
the knowledge and realisation will come to you in due course. 15
May 1932 (SABCL 25: 122) (CWSA 32: 154)

XX 16. c. 'These are acts oI the mind; openness is a state oI
consciousness which keeps it turned to the Mother, Iree Irom other
movements expecting and able to receive what may come Irom the
Divine. (SABCL 23: 604) (CWSA 29: 105)

XX In Integral Yoga we surrender to the Divine Mother

!$)

XX 16. d. 'By remaining psychically open to the Mother, all that
is necessary Ior work or sadhana develops progressively, that is
one oI the chieI secrets, the central secret oI the sadhana. 13
February 1933 (SABCL 25: 121) (CWSA 32: 154)

XX 16. e. 'But it is not by upadea that this sadhana is given or
carried on. It is only those who are capable by aspiration and
meditation on the Mother to open and receive her action and
working within that can succeed in this Yoga. 21 June 1937
(SABCL 25: 121) (CWSA 32: 136)

XX 16. I. Q: II a sadhak even aIter a long time cannot open
himselI Iully and constantly to the Mother owing to great obstacles
in his nature, will he die in the middle and not be accepted by the
Mother?
A: There is no meaning in such a question. Those who Iollow the
Yoga here are accepted by the Mother Ior "accepted" means
"admitted into the Yoga, accepted as disciples". But the progress
in the Yoga and the siddhi in the Yoga depend on the degree to
which there is the opening. 24 June 1933 (SABCL 25: 126)
(CWSA 32: 155)

XX 16. g. 'To remain open to the Mother is to remain always
quiet and happy and conIident not restless, not grieving or
despondent, to let her Iorce work in you, guide you, give you
knowledge, give you peace and Ananda. II you cannot keep
yourselI open, then aspire constantly but quietly that you may be
open. (SABCL 25: 124) (CWSA 32: 151)

XX In Integral Yoga we surrender to the Divine Mother

!%*

XX 16. h. 'Whether one Ieels the Mother`s love or not depends
on whether one is open to it or not. It does not depend on physical
nearness. (SABCL 25: 169) (CWSA 32: 507)

XX 16. i. 'Keep yourselI open to the Mother} her and Ieel with
your heart, the inner heart, not the surIace vital desire, but the
heart oI the true emotion, there you are more likely to Iind her
and be always near her in yourselI and receive what constantly she
is working to give you. (SABCL 25: 193) (CWSA 32: 489)

XX 17. One is not Open to the Mother when}
XX 17. a. 'To be open is simply to be so turned to the Mother
that her Force can work in you without anything reIusing or
obstructing her action. II the mind is shut up in its own ideas and
reIuses to allow her to bring in the Light and the Truth, iI the vital
clings to its desires and does not admit the true initiative and
impulsions that the Mother's power brings, iI the physical is shut
up in its desires, habits and inertia and does not allow the Light and
Force to enter in it and work, then one is not open. (SABCL 25:
123-124) (CWSA 32: 151)

XX 17. b. 'Let the power oI the Mother work in you, but be
careIul to avoid any mixture or substitution, in its place, oI either a
magniIied ego-working or a Iorce oI Ignorance presenting itselI as
Truth. Aspire especially Ior the elimination oI all obscurity and
unconsciousness in the nature. (SABCL 25: 128-129) (CWSA 32:
136)

XX 17. c. 'It is not possible to be entirely open all at once in all
the movements, but there must be a central opening in each part
XX In Integral Yoga we surrender to the Divine Mother

!%!

and a dominant aspiration or will in each part (not in the mind
alone) to admit only the Mother's "workings", the rest will then be
progressively done. (SABCL 25: 123-124) (CWSA 32: 151)

XX 18. - How to Open to the Mother.
XX 18. a. 'Q: What does 'opening mean? Is it: "not to keep
anything secret Irom the Mother"?
A: That is the Iirst step towards opening. (SABCL 25: 123)
(CWSA 32: 150-151)

XX 18. b. 'Q: How does one 'open?
A: By Iaith and surrender in a quiet mind. (CWSA 32: 151)

XX 18. c. 'It is by conIidence in the Mother that the opening
needed will come when your consciousness is ready. . it is not by
meditation alone that what is needed will come. It is by Iaith and
openness to the Mother. (SABCL 23: 604) (CWSA 29: 109)

XX 18. d. 'The principal thing in the Yoga is to trust in the
Divine Grace at every step, to direct the thought continually to the
Divine and to oIIer oneselI till the being opens and the Mother's
Iorce can be Ielt working in the Adhara. 26 July 1932 (SABCL
25: 122) (CWSA 32: 166)

XX 18. e. 'It is by the constant remembrance that the being is
prepared Ior the Iull opening. By the opening oI the heart the
Mother's presence begins to be Ielt and by the opening to her
Power above the Force oI the higher consciousness comes down
into the body and works there to change the whole nature.
(SABCL 25: 127) (CWSA 32:167)
XX In Integral Yoga we surrender to the Divine Mother

!%"


XX 18. I. 'Q: Is our inner being already open to the Mother or
does it open in the course oI sadhana?
A: The inner being does not open except by sadhana, or by some
psychic touch on the liIe. 30 November 1933 (SABCL 25: 125)
(CWSA 32: 162)

XX 18. g. 'There are two main things to be secured as the
Ioundations oI sadhana the opening oI the psychic being and the
realisation oI the SelI above. For the opening oI the psychic being,
concentration on the Mother and selI-oIIering to her are the direct
way. The growth oI Bhakti which you Ieel is the Iirst sign oI the
psychic development. A sense oI the Mother`s presence or Iorce or
the remembrance oI her supporting and strengthing you is the next
sign. (SABCL 23: 636)

XX 18. h. 'Openness is not always complete Irom the Iirst a
part oI the being opens, other parts oI the consciousness remain
still closed or halI open only one has to aspire till all is open.
Even with the best and most powerIul Sadhaks the Iull opening
takes time; nor is there anyone who has been able to abandon
everything at once without any struggle. There is no reason to Ieel
thereIore that iI you call you will not be heard the Mother
knows the diIIiculties oI human nature and will help you through.
Persevere always, call always and then aIter each diIIiculty there
will be a progress. (SABCL 25: 127) (CWSA 32: 156-157)

XX 18. i. 'Yes, it is by quieting the mind that you will become
able to call the Mother and open to her. The soothing eIIect was a
touch Irom the psychic one oI the touches that prepare the
XX In Integral Yoga we surrender to the Divine Mother

!%#

opening oI the psychic with its giIt oI inner peace, love and joy.
(SABCL 25: 128) (CWSA 32: 163)

XX 18. j. 'No, it is not enough to be in the Asramone has to
open to the Mother and put away the mud which one was playing
with in the world. 25 September 1934 (CWSA 32: 156)

XX 19. Signs oI a real opening to the Mother.
XX - 19. a. 'Q: What are the signs oI a real opening to the
Mother?
A: That shows itselI at once when you Ieel the divine peace,
equality, wideness, light, Ananda, Knowledge, strength, when
aware oI the Mother's nearness or presence or the working oI her
Force, etc., etc. II any oI these things are Ielt, it is the opening
the more are Ielt, the more complete the opening. (SABCL 25:
123) (CWSA 32: 150)

XX - 19.b. 'Q: How to know that I am opening to the Mother and
not to other Iorces?
A: You have to be vigilant and see that there is no movement oI
disturbance, desire, ego. (SABCL 25: 123) (CWSA 32: 150)

XX 20. 'To walk through liIe armoured against all Iear, peril and
disaster, only two things are needed, two that go always together
the Grace oI the Divine Mother and on your side an inner state
made up oI Iaith, sincerity and surrender. Let your Iaith be pure,
candid and perIect. An egoistic Iaith in the mental and vital being
tainted by ambition, pride, vanity, mental arrogance, vital selI-will,
personal demand, desire Ior the petty satisIactions oI the lower
nature is a low and smoke-obscured Ilame that cannot burn
XX In Integral Yoga we surrender to the Divine Mother

!%$

upwards to heaven. Regard your liIe as given you only Ior the
divine work and to help in the divine maniIestation. Desire nothing
but the purity, Iorce, light, wideness, calm, Ananda oI the divine
consciousness and its insistence to transIorm and perIect your
mind, liIe and body. Ask Ior nothing but the divine, spiritual and
supramental Truth, its realisation on earth and in you and in all
who are called and chosen and the conditions needed Ior its
creation and its victory over all opposing Iorces. Let your sincerity
and surrender be genuine and entire. When you give yourselI, give
completely, without demand, without condition, without
reservation so that all in you shall belong to the Divine Mother and
nothing be leIt to the ego or given to any other power.
The more complete your Iaith, sincerity and surrender, the more
will grace and protection be with you. And when the grace and
protection oI the Divine Mother are with you, what is there that
can touch you or whom need you Iear? A little oI it even will carry
you through all diIIiculties, obstacles and dangers; surrounded by
its Iull presence you can go securely on your way because it is
hers, careless oI all menace, unaIIected by any hostility however
powerIul, whether Irom this world or Irom worlds invisible. Its
touch can turn diIIiculties into opportunities, Iailure into success
and weakness into unIaltering strength. For the grace oI the Divine
Mother is the sanction oI the Supreme and now or tomorrow its
eIIect is sure, a thing decreed, inevitable and irresistible. (SABCL
25: 9-10) (CWSA 32: 8-9)

XX 21. 'The eIIort demanded oI the sadhaka is that oI aspiration,
rejection and surrender. II these three are done the rest is to come
oI itselI by the Grace oI the Mother and the working oI her Iorce in
you. But oI the three the most important is surrender oI which the
XX In Integral Yoga we surrender to the Divine Mother
!%%

Iirst necessary Iorm is trust and conIidence and patience in
diIIiculty. There is no rule that trust and conIidence can only
remain iI aspiration is there. On the contrary, when even aspiration
is not there because oI the pressure oI inertia, trust and conIidence
and patience can remain. II trust and patience Iail when aspirtation
is quiescent, that would mean that the Sadhaka is relying solely on
his own eIIort . On the contrary the sadhaka should Ieel, 'Never
mind, my aspiration will come back again. Meanwhile I know that
the Mother is with me even when I do not Ieel her; she will carry
me even through the darkest period. That is the Iully right attitude
you must have. (SABCL 25: 135) (CWSA 32: 139-140)

XX 22. 'I have said that the human vital does not like to be
controlled or dominated by another and I said that also was a
reason why sadhaks Iind it diIIicult to surrender to the Mother. For
the vital wants to aIIirm its own ideas, impulses, desires,
preIerences and to do what it likes, it does not want to Ieel another
Iorce than that oI its own nature leading or driving it; but surrender
to the Mother means that it must give up all these personal things
and allow her Force to guide and drive it in the ways oI a higher
Truth which are not its own ways: so it resists, does not want to be
dominated by the Truth Light and the Mother`s Force, insists on its
own independence and reIuses to surrender. (SABCL 25: 131)
(CWSA 32: 147-148)

XX 23. 'Surrender cannot be made at once it is not easy; Ior
there is much in the being that resists. But one must have the will
to surrender. It is the same with becoming an instrument. II one has
the will and calls on the Mother and opens oneselI as much as
XX In Integral Yoga we surrender to the Divine Mother

!%&

possible to her, then gradually these things develop in the nature.
(CWSA 29: 69)

XX 24. 'I wanted to stress two things, that is why I have written
so much about them.
(1) There must be no tamasic (inert, passive) surrender to the
Mother Ior that will bring as its reaction a passive inert
helplessness beIore the lower or hostile Iorces or
suggestions, an unresisting or helplessly resisting
acquiescence or suIIerance oI these inroads. A passive
condition can bring much peace, quietude, joy even, but it
disperses the being instead oI concentrating it in wideness
and the will becomes atrophied. Surrender must be
luminous, active, a willed oIIering to the Mother and
reception oI her Force and support to its workings, at the
same time a strong vigilant will to reject all that is not hers.
Too many sadhaks cry beIore the attacks oI their lower
nature, 'I am helpless, I cannot react, it comes and makes
me do what it wants. This is a wrong passivity.
(2) One must not get into the habit oI a state in which one is
always in a struggle with suggestions and Iorces. People
very easily Iall into this and make it a habitthe vital part
takes a sort oI glowing satisIaction in crying out, 'I am
attacked, overborne, suIIering, miserable! How tragic is my
Iate! Why do you not help, O Divine? There is no help, nor
divine Grace? I am leIt to my misery and downIall etc. etc.
etc. I do not want one more sadhak to Iall into this
conditionthat is why I am calling Halt! beIore you get
entangled in this kind oI habit oI constant struggle. It is
what these Iorces wantto make you Ieel helpless,
XX In Integral Yoga we surrender to the Divine Mother

!%'

deIeated, overborne. You must not allow it. (CWSA 29:
79-80)

XX 25. 'You are always expecting the Mother to do it |remove
vital dissatisIaction and revolt|and here again the laziness and
tamas come init is the spirit oI tamasic surrender. II the Mother
puts you back into a good condition, your vital pulls you down
again. How is that to stop so long as you say Yes to the vital and
accept its discouragement and restlessness and anguish and the rest
oI it as your own? Detachment is absolutely necessary. (CWSA
29: 80)

XX 26. 'Consecration means oIIering and making sacred to the
Mother so that the whole vital nature may belong to her and not to
the lower nature. (SABCL 24: 1324)

XX 27. 'The power oI experience is not gone but what is most
important now is to develop the psychic condition oI surrender,
devotion, love and cheerIul conIidence in the Mother, an un-
shaken Iaith and a constant inner closeness, and also to bring down
Irom above the peace, wideness, purity etc. oI the higher SelI
which is that oI the Mother`s consciousness. It is these things that
are the basis oI the siddhi in this Yoga other experiences are only
a help, not the basis. (CWSA 29: 77)

XX 28. 'SelI-surrender to the divine and inIinite Mother,
however diIIicult, remains our only eIIective means and our sole
abiding reIuge. SelI-surrender to her means that our nature must be
an instrument in her hands, the soul a child in the arms oI the
Mother. (SABCL 17: 72) (CWSA 12: 171)
XX In Integral Yoga we surrender to the Divine Mother

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